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SEOUL - North Korea reported Tuesday that its leader Kim Jong-Il has visited factories in the communist country, as rumours about his health persist.
The official Korean Central News Agency said in a report early Tuesday that Kim had visited a cosmetics factory and a machinery plant, where he praised staff.
It did not say exactly when the visit took place, but said Kim congratulated workers at the Rakwon Machine Complex on completing the year's assignments by the end of October, suggesting it was this month.
North Korea's exclusively state-run media do not generally reveal the exact date or venue of Kim's appearances.
After he missed a September 9 parade marking his country's 60th anniversary, South Korean and US officials said Kim had suffered a stroke around mid-August but was recovering well.
Kim's health is the subject of intense speculation because he has not publicly nominated a successor -- as his father had done more than 20 years before his death in 1994 -- to run the impoverished, nuclear-armed state.
North Korean state media has recently issued a series of still photos of Kim in public, in an apparent attempt to end the swirling speculation about his health. But they have all been undated, stoking even more rumours.
One of the photos, issued early this month, had been digitally altered to superimpose Kim's image onto a military group, experts said.
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