Seoul (AsiaNews/Agencies) North Korea's 'dear leader' Kim Jong-Il has disappeared from public view since his country test-fired missiles a month ago and was roundly criticised by the international community and the UN Security Council adopted a resolution imposing weapons-related sanctions on Pyongyang.
The leader of the reclusive Communist country has shied away from the media spotlight since he visited a tyre factory on July 4, a day before the missile tests. And the media blackout spawned rumours in South Korea about possible internal troubles in the regime or even health problems for Kim.
The North Korean leader, 64, is rarely out of the public eye in North Korea where he has near god-like status. His inspection tours of fields, factories and military bases have become a perennial staple of North Korea's state-controlled media.
Now experts are busily trying to fathom why Kim has been absent from the media, which even failed to mention his crucial homage to his late father Kim Il-Sung on July 8.
Despite sporadic absences from the spotlightincluding a 40-day disappearance in 2003Kim had never missed his annual visit to the memorial place for his father who died in 1994 and who is still considered North Korea's president.
Some rumours picked by the Dong-A Ilbo, a South Korean newspaper, suggested Monday that Kim secluded himself to ponder on a series of internal and external problems.
According to Paik Hak-Soon, a North Korea watcher at the Sejong Institute, "the most persuasive theory is that he is immersed in thinking about how to handle the situation at a time when international pressure is growing over missile tests".
On the night of July 4-5, Pyongyang conducted seven missile tests without causing any damages but provoking a barrage of criticism from the international community.
They were launched despite threats from the United States and Japan but also requests from China and Russia, traditional allies of the Stalinist regime.
In mid-July a resolution by the Security Council requested an immediate end to missile tests and imposed sanctions on North Korea that will affect the import and export of missile technology and materiel.
Some analysts have pointed out that Kim's extended absence in 2003 coincided with rising tensions over the nuclear question and that he might be concerned about his own security.
