It does appear that Kim Jong-Il has suffered a health setback, potentially a stroke, the official said, speaking on condition of anonymity. She said there have been no signs of a change in governing power and that assessing whether Kim was still capable of governing would call for a lot of speculation.

Kim failed to appear at a triumphal military parade on Tuesday celebrating North Korea’s 60th birthday.

South Korea’s largest daily, the Chosun Ilbo, said Kim, 66 and suspected of suffering from chronic illness, collapsed last month, citing a South Korean diplomatic source in Beijing.

Kim, as leader, attended the parades for the 50th and 55th anniversary of the state founded by his father Kim Il-sung.

White House spokeswoman Dana Perino, asked about the possible stroke, We do not have any information on that report.Japan’s Kyodo news agency reported in a dispatch from Pyongyang that Kim was not seen at the parade in which it added that the country’s regular army, navy and air force did not participate.

A spokesman for South Korea’s main spy agency, the National Intelligence Service, said it could not immediately confirm Kim’s absence, though said that the parade was found to have largely been conducted by civilian militia forces. The rally involved about one million people, the spokesman said.

The centerpiece of the celebration had been expected to be a massive military parade through Pyongyang’s central Kim Il Sung Square as normally happens in key anniversary years.

Kim’s health has been a focus of intense interest because his fate is believed to be closely tied to that of the totalitarian state that he inherited in 1994 from his father in communism’s first hereditary transfer of power.