Report: North Korea's Kim seen in public

SEOUL, Oct. 4 (UPI) -- North Korean leader Kim Jong-il reportedly has made his first public appearance since apparently suffering a stroke.

Kim, 66, attended a college soccer match in Pyongyang, held to mark the 62nd anniversary of the founding of the university named after his late father, Kim Il Sung, Sky News reported Saturday, quoting the state-run Korea Central News Agency.

Kim had not been seen publicly since mid-August, when U.S. and South Korean officials said he underwent brain surgery for a stroke, the BBC reported Saturday. None of the reports indicated what day the soccer game was held.

Kim's failure to appear Sept. 9 at festivities marking the 60th anniversary of the Democratic People's Republic of Korea, as North Korea is formally known, led to reports Kim was seriously ill, which North Korean government officials have denied.

Denuclearization talks between North Korea and the United States, South Korea, China, Japan and Russia have stalled since mid-August over verification of the extent of North Korea's nuclear programs.