North Korea angrily denies reports of leader's illness

North Korea's deputy leader and ceremonial head of state, Kim Yong Nam, has today said that there was "no problem" with the health of leader Kim Jong Il.

Speculation regarding the leader's health has increased recently after he missed a parade commemorating North Korea's founding 60 years ago yesterday.

The event is one of the country's most celebrated holidays, along with the birthdays of Mr Kim and his late father and founding leader, Kim Il Sung.

Senior diplomat Song Il Ho also said that reports about Mr Kim's health were "not true", according to Japan's Kyodo News agency.

"We see such reports as not only worthless, but rather as a conspiracy plot," Mr Song told Kyodo in what the agency said was the country's first reaction to the reports.

"Western media have reported falsehood before," he said.

South Korea's Yonhap news agency previously cited an unidentified South Korean government official as saying Mr Kim appeared to have "collapsed", a term that in the Korean language is used when a person becomes suddenly ill due to causes including stroke.

The official stressed that it is certain that Mr Kim has not died, Yonhap said.

The report did not give further details.

Western intelligence officials have said Mr Kim's failure to appear yesterday may indicate that he is seriously ill and could even have had a stroke, though they cautioned that such speculation has not been independently confirmed.

Today, South Korean President Lee Myung-bak convened an emergency meeting in Seoul with senior aides to discuss the situation, an official at the presidential Blue House said.

The 66-year-old Mr Kim, who has been rumoured to be in varying degrees of ill health for years, took over the reclusive state upon the death of his father 14 years ago in communism's first hereditary transfer of power.

The younger Mr Kim attended the parade on the 50th and 55th anniversaries and was widely expected to do so this year as well.

Since late 2002, North Korea has been locked in a stand-off with the West over its nuclear ambitions.

The country carried out its first nuclear test in 2006, but agreed last year to disable its nuclear facilities in exchange for economic aid and political concessions.

The negotiations, however, hit a snag again recently with the two sides at odds over how to verify North Korea's accounting of its nuclear programmes.