Kim Jong Il Death Watch

He’s not quite dead, alas:

North Korean television, monitored in Seoul, showed photos of Kim holding talks with Wang and hosting a reception for the Chinese official. Dressed in his trademark Mao suit, Kim appeared a little thinner, but generally in good health in the pictures.

KCNA and the North’s TV said Wang delivered a personal letter from Chinese President Hu Jintao to Kim, but did not elaborate. [AP, via IHT]

Or at least, that’s what he wants us all to think:

Analysts in Seoul saw the meeting as a North Korean attempt to demonstrate to the outside world that Mr. Kim was in control of his government, well enough to make key decisions about its nuclear weapons program and deal with the new U.S. administration. [N.Y. Times, Choe Sang Hun]

This is one of those rare cases in which (a) the truth really is somewhere in the middle, and (b) the “analysts in Seoul” haven’t lost all contact with it. I could be a flat-earther about this and insist that neither the Chinese nor the North Koreans are above staging a sham, but Kim Jong Il seems to have emerged from a rumored stroke with some degree of tyrannical capacity intact.

Then again, the absence of video and audio is telling. A stroke often affects the victim’s voice, speech, and ability to walk normally and would give us a better idea of whether the original reports were true, the extent of any disability, and approximately how long until His Porcine Majesty will be rolled off to join North Korea’s largest stockpile of preserved meat.