North Korean leader Kim Jong Il, viewing farms and fields during his visit to the Sinam Cooperative Farm in Ryongchon County, North Korea. Korean Central News Agency via Korea News Service / APFrom Time Magazine:
There are pictures released recently by the Korean Central News Agency, the propaganda arm of the North Korean government, that are meant to give the impression that Kim Jong Il is back running his benighted country after a stroke last summer. And then there are those shown here, of Kim at an indoor swimming pool. He looks old, frail and sick. The pictures, according to diplomats and intelligence analysts in East Asia and Washington, capture reality. Kim is 68, and though it is thought he has made a reasonable recovery, he has apparently not resumed all his duties as North Korea's absolute ruler. That is focusing the minds of analysts on two related questions: Who will succeed Kim when he is gone? And how will North Korea behave?
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