Kim Jong Il Ill?

By Ron Beasley

The deteriorating situation in Pakistan is not the only thing being ignored .  North Korean leader Kim Jong Il has not been seen since August 14.

Western officials confirm to FOX News that there is intelligence suggesting that North Korean leader Kim Jong Il suffered a stroke on Aug. 14 and could be incapacitated — even wheelchair bound.

Sources tell FOX News that Assistant Secretary of State Christopher Hill's emergency visit to Beijing last week was more to talk about how to approach North Korea in the event of Kim's incapacitation, and less to talk about the reassembling of the Yongbyon nuclear facility.

A U.S. intelligence official told the Associated Press that there is reason to believe Kim is sick after he failed to show up at a North Korean national celebration on Tuesday. That official and another U.S. source spoke to the AP on condition of anonymity.

Kim has not been seen in public for a month and U.S. officials were closely watching Tuesday's military parade for signs to the leader's health or a shift in power.

North Koreans call Kim the "Dear Leader" and he holds absolute power in the Stalinist regime.

An official told FOX that one of the intelligence community's primary concerns is the line of succession in North Korea if, in fact, Kim is unable to rule or dies.

Now you might think this is good news but you would probably be wrong.  McClatchy explains what might happen now.

Kenneth Gause, who's studied North Korea's leadership for 20 years, said there were a half-dozen scenarios for the impoverished country's future if Kim died. They range from a collective leadership taking over to a senior general seizing power to complete collapse, he said.

If the latter were to happen, "it'd be more like a slow-motion collapse as opposed to something violent," said Gause, who directs the foreign-leadership studies program at CNA, a federally funded research group.

He said those who might succeed Kim, perhaps as part of a collective leadership, included Kim's brother-in-law, Jang Song Taek, who'd been under house arrest for reasons that were unclear, and Kim Yong Nam, who had significant foreign affairs experience and was the president of the Presidium of the Supreme People's Assembly.

Gause said another possibility was a takeover of North Korea by a military strongman, who'd have to be someone with access to closely guarded information about Kim's condition and to military resources.

You may recall that North Korea is a nuclear power and more important the reports that North Korea had restarted it's nuclear program coincide with the disappearance of Kim Jong Il.  Just what the world needs -  another nuclear country that may come unglued. 

Candidates include Gen. O Kok Yul, whose position puts him in charge of the country's elite special forces, Gause said.