North Korean leader Kim Jong-il will likely appear in public at a ceremony in early October to celebrate the founding of the ruling Workers' Party and quell speculation about his health, a nongovernmental organization said Wednesday.
"We've heard (from North Koreans) that Chairman Kim Jong-il will appear at the ceremony to mark the 63rd anniversary of the foundation of the Workers' Party on Oct. 10 as speculation abounds abroad and North Korean people are concerned about Chairman Kim's health," Yonhap News quoted South Korean monk Pomnyun, chairman of Good Friends, as saying in a statement released prior to his speech to the Nitze School of Advanced International Studies in Washington.
Kim, chairman of the North's National Defense Commission, which controls the reclusive Communist state's military as well as political and economic aspects, is said to be recovering from major brain surgery, raising concerns over a possible power vacuum.
The North Korean leader has long suffered from diabetes and heart problems. The death of his father, Kim Il-sung, in 1994 was reportedly from heart failure.
Pomnyun said Kim's suspected health problem has not yet created any unrest in the North, noting that senior North Korean officials had been notified in advance of Kim's absence from the Sept. 9 celebrations marking an anniversary of the founding of the North Korean government.
Kim Jong-il "is in firm control of North Korea, and there is no sign of the core of the North Korean leadership breaking up," he said. "Even in case of Chairman Kim's absence, North Korea is capable of operating an emergency management system to maintain its regime in the short term."
Monk Pomnyun, who has visited North Korea several times for humanitarian projects, said none of Kim's three sons will be able to take over in a third-generation dynastic transfer of power.