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Keen attention is being paid to the health of North Korean leader Kim Jong-il after a British newspaper speculated that he may need heart surgery to restore his failing health.

Citing western government sources, the Daily Telegraph reported North Korea's reclusive leader has been so unwell that he could not walk more than 30 yards without a rest.

The report came after a team of six doctors from the German Heart Institute in Berlin flew to Pyongyang for eight days last month. A spokesman for the German team said they had treated only three laborers, a nurse and a scientist.

It is not the first time that Kim's health has come under scrutiny, triggering speculation about which of Kim's sons will succeed him or whether a collective military leadership will take his place.

The newspaper echoed the allegation made by a South Korean opposition lawmaker in September last year that Kim cannot walk more than 30 meters at a time and has to be accompanied by an assistant carrying a chair so that he can sit and catch his breath.

Rep. Chung Hyung-keun of the main opposition Grand National Party is well known for his extensive intelligence on North Korea.

The prosecutor-turned-politician served as an investigator for the anti-communism division of South Korea's intelligence agency in the 1980s and early 1990s.

Speculation about the state of Kim's health is increasing as his public appearances have been curtailed this year. He has appeared in public only 23 times, compared with 42 times at the same time last year.

Kim, who turned 65 this year, succeeded North Korea's founding leader Kim Il-sung in 1994 after the elder Kim died of heart failure, the first hereditary succession of power in a communist state from father to son. He was officially named successor of Kim Il-sung in 1980 even though he had been known as the heir apparent since 1974.

The junior Kim officially took over his father's position in 1997 and since then has ruled the country under a military-first policy. Although there have been speculation about a number of his possible health problems, including diabetes and kidney and liver problems, the North Korean leader has yet to name his successor, at least in public.

Kim has three sons from two relationships, but his eldest, Jong-nam, is known to be living abroad after reportedly falling out of favor with his father due to his wayward lifestyle.

Jong-nam, 36, humiliated his father and the country when he was expelled from Japan in 2001 while trying to enter the country on a forged passport. The junior Kim at that time told Japanese police that he was trying to visit an amusement park outside Tokyo.

According to the British paper, Kim is reported to have taken second son Jong-chul, 25, and third son Jong-un, 23, on a series of military inspections to ascertain who performed best.

Jong-chol was considered to be Kim's current favorite but is hampered by his age and lack of leadership experience. The young Kim is also rumored to be suffering from an unusual illness that produces an excessive amount of female hormones in his system, according to some North Korea watchers.

Jung-un has apparently won his father's acceptance the most because of his cool-headed personality, according to analysts.

Jong-nam's birth resulted from his father's unofficial relationship with Sung Hae-rim, an actress who died in Moscow several years ago. Jong-chol and Jong-un's mother is Ko Yong-hi, who died of heart failure in 2004.

Some observers say, however, that after Kim's death, a collective leadership by military figures might take charge, ending the Kim family's dynastic power over the impoverished communist state and paving the way for it to abandon its nuclear weapons program and open up to the rest of the world, the newspaper reported.
SEOUL, June 11 (Yonhap News)