18 November 2004	Thursday	05 Shawwal 1425

SEOUL, Nov 17: North Korean leader Kim Jong-il has visited a military unit, the country's official KCNA news agency reported on Wednesday, just hours after reports surfaced that his portrait had been removed from some public places.

South Korean officials downplayed the reports, saying they had seen no signs to suggest a major change in the power structure. As usual, the KCNA report about Kim's latest inspection did not give the date or location of his visit, although the wording suggested it was near the Demilitarised Zone, a heavily fortified strip of land that bisects the Korean peninsula.

"He highly appreciated the exploits performed by the unit in defending the front for a long period, saying that it has traversed a road of victory and glory, glorifying the great tradition and history of unity in mind in the transparent spirit of devotedly defending the leader," the agency said.

Reports of Mr Kim's inspection of military units, which customarily lack specific details, are generally considered in the South to be an indicator of the leader's whereabouts.

Portraits of Mr Kim have long been ubiquitous in homes, offices and public buildings across North Korea, where they have hung prominently for years beside a picture of his late father, the reclusive communist state's founder Kim Il-sung.

But on Tuesday, a Pyongyang-based diplomat said portraits of the younger Kim had been removed from some public meeting halls, but others said the leader's picture remained prominently displayed.

It was not immediately clear what the removal of some portraits meant about the political fortunes of the North Korean leader, but the diplomat said the pictures had been down for some time. One North Korea analyst said the gaps had first been spotted in September when an EU team visited.

READING THE SIGNS: A South Korean official, who closely monitors activities in the North, said there had been little in recent weeks to suggest "an abnormal current" in the North's power structure.

He said that North Korean media had continued to report on Mr Kim's activities, and visits to Pyongyang by foreign delegations had also continued at a brisk pace.

Other officials have suggested that the removal of the portraits, if confirmed, might indicate subtle changes with little lasting implication. But some academics were more cautious. Ryu Gil-jae, an expert on North Korea, said Kim's portrait being hung next to his father went to the very heart of the ideological legitimacy of the regime.

"Kim Jong-il is the key person who has for three decades worked to establish that justification and he is also the key part of it," said Ryu of the Institute for Far Eastern Studies in Seoul. The removal of the portrait, if true, cannot be anything other than an indication of "drastic change", he said.

JAPANESE AID: Prime Minister Junichiro Koizumi ruled out Wednesday a freeze on Japan's humanitarian food aid to North Korea, despite the Stalinist state's reluctance to come clean on its Cold War abductions of Japanese people.

In a parliamentary debate with Takuya Okada, head of the main opposition Democratic Party, Koizumi said aid was "separate" from the kidnap issue and "it should be extended through international agencies when it should be extended."

Okada has led growing callss for an aid freeze after the government said North Korea gave little information to a Japanese fact-finding mission which returned home on Monday from a visit to Pyongyang to probe the kidnap cases. -Reuters/AFP