Text Fwd: Kim Jong-il is physically, mentally healthy: U.S. commander

Yonhap News
2009/09/16 06:24 KST
(2nd LD) Kim Jong-il is physically, mentally healthy: U.S. commander
(ATTN: ADDS Clinton's remarks in paras 6-7)
By Hwang Doo-hyong

WASHINGTON, Sept. 15 (Yonhap) -- North Korean leader Kim Jong-il demonstrated that he is fit enough mentally as well as physically to control state affairs in his meeting with former U.S. President Bill Clinton last month, the commander of U.S. Pacific forces said Tuesday.

"Former President Clinton's trip to North Korea as a private citizen, that was a great intelligence for us," Adm. Timothy Keating said in a forum here hosted by the Center for Strategic and International Studies. "Kim Jong-il was upright. He appears to be cozy and entertaining reasonable discussions with the former president. We were less certain of those capabilities than we are now."

Keating was referring to Clinton's trip to Pyongyang in early August to meet with Kim for more than three hours to win the release of two American journalists held for illegal entry, a meeting that paved the way for possible rapprochement between North Korea and the U.S.

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