NK Leader Tours Factory Amid Health Speculation

North Korean leader Kim Jong-il toured a newly built factory in the capital Pyongyang amid a South Korean news report that he has been diagnosed with life-threatening cancer, AFP reported Tuesday, quoting the communist country's state media.

The 67-year-old gave "field guidance" to officials at the Taedonggang Tile Factory and toured its facilities, the North's official Korean Central News Agency said in its latest account of Kim's activities, according to AFP.

On Monday, South Korea's YTN cable news network said Kim, who is widely believed to have suffered a stroke last August, has been diagnosed with pancreatic cancer and may not live more than five years.

South Korean officials and the U.S. State Department said they could give no information about the reported illness.

State TV last week showed a gaunt Kim limping slightly and with thinning hair when he made a televised appearance to pay homage to his late father Kim Il-sung at a national memorial service.

Kim's health is the subject of intense international attention because of the communist state's nuclear and missile programs and uncertainty about who will succeed him.

Seoul intelligence officials have been quoted as saying he has nominated his youngest son, Jong-un, 26, as the successor but there has been no announcement to the outside world.