“I’ve seen Kim Jong Il and he’s OK”
Published: 26 June, 2009, 20:25
North Korean leader Kim Jong-Il (AFP Photo KCNA via KNS )
TAGS: Show, Asia, Thrills&Spills
Kim Jong Il is feeling well and has no problems with his memory, says the director of Russia’s Moiseyev Ballet, who just returned from tour in North Korea.
“Kim Jong Il looks the way he did two years ago,” Elena Shcherbakova said. “He only got a little thinner.”
Art, but not politics, was on the agenda during the meeting with the North Korean leader, which took place on June 23 after the ensemble’s performance in the city of Wonsan.
Kim Jong Il thanked the dancers for the new programs they presented.
“He said that we’ve managed to retain the high quality of our performances, and invited us to visit North Korea again,” she said.
He also wondered how the cast manages without their late founder Igor Moiseyev, who died in November 2007.
“When Igor Alexandrovich Moiseyev [Moiseev] passed away, Kim Jong Il sent us his condolence and a bunch of flowers,” she added.
Shcherbakova said she was amazed by the memory of the North Korean leader, who remembered the names of the leading dancers two years after he had last seen them.
Moiseyev’s ensemble opened what Kim Jong Il called “the Russian seasons” in North Korea, as more Russian artists, including the Pyatnitsky Choir and Berezka choreographic, are expected to visit the country soon.
Beginning in September 2008, when Kim Jong Il did not attend a military parade marking 60 years since the foundation of North Korean state, there were numerous media reports about his poor physical conditions. Some publications even stated that he had died and was being represented by a double.
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3 comments
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I think he probably had some medical problems. Being overweight was probably one of them. He certainly looks OK to me. The way South Korea and the U.S. treated Roh Moo-Hyun who was doing very well at bringing Kim Jong-il in from the cold, makes me wonder if the North Korean President is now just being bloody minded, which I think is perfectly understandable. Just remember, North Korea fought the Americans,The British,The Australians and the Canadians all at the same time and kicked their ass. So now were all in abit of a bind. Kim Jong-il called everyones bluff, and now the war hawks have egg on their faces.
Well well well it seems that the western media trying to play down Kim Jong Il as an ailing Old Leader has proven to be folly Kim Jong Il is immortal and more superior than Barrack Obama so I fully Praise that Russia's Minister has said He's ok because the world still needs Kim Jong Il for balance and purpose for North Korea.
That's an old picture.