N Korea dismisses Kim Jong Il ‘plot’

North Korea has denied that Kim Jong Il is unwell, after the reclusive leader failed to turn up at a celebration of the 60th anniversary of the foundation of the communist state. North Korean diplomats called reports that the 66-year-old supreme dictator may have suffered a stroke or similar health complaint as a "conspiracy plot".

One senior North Korean diplomat, Song Il Ho, told Japan's Kyodo News that the reports were "not true." "We see such reports as not only worthless, but rather as a conspiracy plot," he said. Kim Yong Nam, North Korea's number two official, said there was "no problem" with the 'Dear Leader'.

However a respected South Korean newspaper reported that its country's Embassy in Beijing had been told by Chinese intelligence that Kim collapsed on August 22. An American intelligence official said yesterday that Washington also believed Kim had suffered a stroke in the past two weeks. "It does appear that Kim Jong Il has had a health setback, possibly a stroke,” he said. The event was said to have happened in ”the last couple of weeks” but there had been no outward signs of a struggle to succeed him since. Kim was last seen in public last month.