N. Korea Silent on Reports of Leader’s Assassination

A South Korean announcement of reports that archenemy President Kim Il Sung of North Korea was assassinated brought strong denials from his overseas envoys today but only silence from his communist nation.

Pyongyang, the North Korean capital, was said to be calm.

After a weekend of rumors, the South Korean Defense Ministry announced late Sunday that North Korean loudspeakers along the 151-mile demilitarized zone separating the two countries had broadcast statements that Kim had been shot to death.

Defense Minister Lee Ki Baek later went to the National Assembly, where he said to lawmakers, “Judging from all such circumstances, it is believed that Kim has died or a serious internal power struggle is going on there.”

According to reports in Seoul, Kim had set into motion plans to relinquish power to his 44-year-old son, Kim Jong Il, creating the first communist dynasty. The reports said senior military commanders in the north opposed the succession.

Personality Cult

The elder Kim, 74, came to power in 1948. Known as “The Great Father Leader,” he created a personality cult unrivaled in the communist world since the death of Chinese leader Mao Tse-tung in 1976.

The scheduled visit of a high-level delegation from Mongolia to Pyongyang later today could help clear the mystery surrounding Kim’s fate.

China’s official New China News Agency said in a dispatch from Pyongyang that preparations were going ahead for the arrival of the delegation, headed by Zhambyn Batmonkh, chairman of the Mongolian Council of Ministers.

The report, quoting the “Korean departments concerned,” said the delegation would be received by Korean state and party leaders, but it did not say whether Kim would be present.

An Austrian trade representative in Pyongyang, reached by telephone today from Peking, said “so far there has been no indication whatsoever” that Kim is dead.

Flags at Half-Staff

The state-run Korean Broadcasting System said the loudspeaker reports were made Sunday at several points along the demilitarized zone. There were reports that North Korean flags in the area were at half-staff and that somber music came across the loudspeakers.

But U.S. military authorities said the situation is normal around Panmunjom, site of the truce village and the only part of the DMZ where American forces still operate.

Reports that Kim was slain were denied by North Korean Embassy officials in several places, including Peking and New Delhi.

But the Japanese Kyodo News Service reported in a dispatch from Hanoi that Vietnamese government sources had said today that Kim had been killed. The report said the unidentified sources, who were described as reliable, quoted a report to Vietnamese Communist Party authorities from Pyongyang.