SEOUL, SOUTH KOREA - NORTH Korea shows every sign of normality, an official and an expert said on Friday, after rumours of the death of Kim Jong-Il were debunked.

Pyongyang's state Korean Central News Agency (KCNA) reported late on Thursday that Kim was visiting and giving on-the-spot 'guidance' at Hamhung University of Medicine in the northeastern province of North Hamgyong.

Earlier on Thursday, South Korea's government dismissed rumours of his death, which had swirled through stocks markets, as groundless.

'Everything seems to be normal in the North. We dismiss the rumours as another farce,' a South Korean Unification Ministry official said.

'These kind of rumours about Kim's death circulate two or three times every year,' the official added, refusing to be further identified.

Mr Baek Seung-Joo, chief of North Korea Research Team at the Korea Institute for Defence Analyses, said it would be all but impossible even for the highly controlled communist state to conceal the fate of its leader.

'If an incident of that scale, such as Kim's death, took place in the North, the first indicators would be tightened border controls and entry into the country would be strictly limited,' he said.

'The next thing we have to check is whether there are any unusual meetings of government agencies and party organs.'

When North Korea's founder and Kim Jong-Il's father died in 1994, North Korea called unscheduled meetings of people's representatives and the communist party's central committee, Mr Baek said.

No unusual movements in the North have been detected this time, officials here said.

'First of all, I don't think Pyongyang's official media have any reason to fake the leader's fate,' Mr Baek said. -- AFP