Kim Jong Il makes New Year's apperance

SEOUL, Jan. 3 (UPI) -- North Korean leader Kim Jong Il has made his first public appearance of 2009 by inspecting a military unit, North's state-run Korean Central News Agency said.

In a report monitored in Seoul, Kim was said to have paid on-site visit to the "Guard Seoul Ryu Kyong Su Tank Division 105," although details or the exact timing of Kim's visit were not revealed, Yonhap, the South Korean news agency, reported.

KCNA said Kim "congratulated (the unit's) service persons on the New Year" in a report that has added to a string of recent official assertions of public appearances by the reclusive leader amid speculation that his health was failing after at least one recent stroke.

The latest report from Pyongyang said Kim was accompanied by a number of generals and he offered New Year's greetings to soldiers, expressing his appreciation for their revolutionary and martial spirit. The news agency did not directly quote Kim in the report, Yonhap said.