Kim Jong II Suffering from pancreatic cancer

The South Korean media told today that 67 years old North Korean President Kim Jong II is suffering from pancreatic cancer. He was diagnosed with the cancer around the same time he suffered a stroke last summer. Pancreatic cancer is usually found in its final stage and considering the age of Kim, it is expected that he will not live more than 5 years.

North Korea has not confirmed that Kim suffered a stroke, but he disappeared from public view since last summer and he only appeared earlier this year when he was looking extremely thin and feeble. His health has been the center of intense media speculation due to concerns about a power struggle if he were to die without naming a successor.

Television footage showed him thinner and with less hair during a rare public appearance last Wednesday at a memorial in honor of the 15th anniversary of his father’s death. The sides of his tightly pursed lips looked imbalanced in what were believed to be the effects of a stroke. The photo of Kim Jong looked as if he had other health problems. South Korea's spy agency told that Kim has diabetes and heart disease. North Korea experts told that the latest photo of Kim shows that he is still fit enough to rule.

In 1994, Kim Jong II took over North Korea after his father’s death at the age of 82 due to heart failure. He assumed the title of general secretary of Workers' Party and Chairman of National Defense Commission but he has never taken the title of his father as president. He runs the North Korea from his post as chairman of the National Defense Commission. He presided over a parliamentary meeting in early April, where he was re-elected as leader.

The South's spy agency believes that Jong UN, 26 year old youngest son of Kim Jong II will take place of his father. The agency also reported that Kim Jong II is expected to officially designate the son as his successor in 2012.