North Korea has imposed a smoking ban at all venues used by its leader Kim Jong-Il after doctors advised him to stop smoking and drinking, a former South Korean lawmaker said Tuesday.
North Korea has imposed a smoking ban at all venues used by its leader Kim Jong-II after doctors advised him to stop smoking and drinking, a former South Korean lawmaker said Tuesday.
The doctors urged Kim to quit after he underwent a heart operation, said Jang Sung-Min, an associate of former South Korean president Kim Dae-Jung who held a historic summit with Kim Jong-II in 2000."A Chinese diplomat who has close relations with the North Koreans told me by telephone that doctors had asked Chairman Kim Jong-Il to quit smoking and drinking," Jang told AFP.
"Kim's home, office and all other places he goes to have been designated as non-smoking areas. Even the highest-ranking officials are going outdoors to smoke," he said.
South Korea's National Intelligence Service refused to comment.
Kim, 65, has reduced his official activities this year, and a month-long disappearance from public view in May prompted rumours of failing health.
A team of German doctors visited Pyongyang in May, sparking speculation among some foreign and local news media that Kim might have had a heart operation. This has never been confirmed.
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But they said there was no evidence that his health had worsened seriously enough to hamper his activities. They also dismissed a British newspaper report that Kim cannot walk more than 30 metres (yards) at a time.
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Several accounts portray Kim as a former chain-smoker and a cognac-guzzling playboy with an appetite for fine dining.
Since his father died, reportedly of a heart attack, at age 82 in 1994, Kim Jong-Il's health has been the subject of speculation due to the highly secretive nature of his hermit regime.
Source-AFP
LIN/V
