SEOUL, Feb. 7 (UPI) -- The younger sister of North Korean leader Kim Jong Il, reported to have committed suicide, is alive and well, a South Korean government source says.
Reports had surfaced in Japan that Kim Kyong Hui, 59, had recently taken her own life. The source, who asked not to be identified, told South Korea's Yonhap news agency that Kim, a senior member of the ruling Workers' Party, was alive in North Korea.
The source also denied reports that she had been injured in a traffic accident last year, Yonhap reported. He said that she had, however, received treatment in France for alcoholism.
The Japanese daily Nihon Keizai Shimbun reported in October that Kim had been badly injured in a car accident in Pyongyang that month, and was being cared for by French doctors.
Kim is reportedly in charge of light industry in the country. Her husband, Chang Song Taek, is a close confidant of Kim Jong Il's.
