Kim Jong-Il shows up 2 straight days

PYONGYANG, North Korea, Dec. 18 (UPI) -- Kim Jong-Il visited a steel plant Thursday, a day after he toured a library and electronics research plant, North Korean state-run media reported.

Kim was photographed Wednesday in conversations and apparently active, CNN said. South Korean watchers said the reports were the first in months of the North Korean leader's public activities on two consecutive days.

Kim stopped appearing in public in midsummer, causing speculation that he was sick. He made no public appearances for almost two months, until Oct. 4.

A French neurosurgeon, Francois Xavier-Roux, said last week that Kim was making a good recovery from a stroke and that he had last seen him in late October.

The government of North Korea has consistently denied that Kim has any medical problems. Kim, 67, is the son of Kim Il-Sung, founder of the Communist government in North Korea.