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13:33 GMT, Friday, 7 November 2008
BBC

There is fresh speculation about the health of North Korea's "Dear Leader" Kim Jong-il, amid suggestions that an image of Mr Kim may have been doctored.

The image, released on Wednesday, appeared to show Mr Kim in good health while inspecting two military units.

But an analysis by the UK's Times newspaper highlighted incongruities around the leader's legs, and the BBC found what look like mismatched pixels.

It has given new life to suggestions Mr Kim may be seriously unwell.

"They go into ostrich mode so readily - because they have given no clue about what would happen without him," North Korea expert Dr Aidan Foster-Carter told the BBC.

Unlike the previous handover of power from the Great Leader Kim Il-sung to his son - which was planned and made public decades in advance - there has been no public announcement about who will succeed Kim Jong-il, 66.

Propaganda battle

The suspicions about Mr Kim's health have gathered force since about mid-August, amid a sudden lull in news reports and official images released by the official North Korean news agency, the KCNA.

His disappearance sparked suggestions he was undergoing brain surgery for a stroke or even that he had died.

A close-up of a possibly doctored image of North Korean leader Kim Jong-il
The BBC found an apparent mismatch of pixels (indicated by the blue lines) in a close-up view of the image

In an apparent bid to stop the rumours, Pyongyang has recently released a succession of images and news stories which purportedly show the leader in good health.

The BBC carried one such image - of Mr Kim posing with a unit of North Korean soldiers - this week, in a report on Mr Kim's apparent return to health and a normal schedule.

But now the Times report - and additional research carried out by the BBC - suggest the image may not be all it seems.

In the photo, the shadow cast by Mr Kim's calves runs in a different direction to the shadow cast by the soldiers on either side of him, the Times pointed out. In addition, a black line running along the stand on which the soldiers are positioned mysteriously vanishes on either side of Mr Kim - suggesting his picture may have been superimposed onto the image.

Such a suspicion was reinforced when a BBC designer examined a close-up, and discovered apparently mismatched pixels to the right of Mr Kim's legs.

The validity of some of other pictures has been questioned in the past. For example, one image released in October appeared to include lush foliage in the background that was incongruous with autumn.

'Old trick'

According to Mr Foster-Carter, the North Koreans do not baulk at using photo fakery for ideological purposes.

"They've faked pictures from way back in the day, such as ones with his father on top of Paektu Mountain (a mountain with special resonance in Korean mythology), he told the BBC.

"It does seem likely that he's still ill. They sometimes don't realise that what a domestic audience will accept won't necessarily work for a more sceptical international audience.

"You think they'd be a bit more proficient at doing this by now!"

Mr Foster-Carter says North Korean authorities will now face renewed pressure to prove Mr Kim is alive and not incapacitated.

"If they want to stop speculation, they have to produce him - as long as they don't, we will still wonder."