North Korean leader Kim Jong-il is well and has not appointed a successor, the North's no. 2 official claimed Thursday. Kim Yong-nam, president of the Presidium of North Korea's Supreme People's Assembly told Japan's Kyodo news agency Monday, "The matter of inheriting the revolutionary traditions is important. But this has nothing to do with the successor issue." "There has been no talk of succession at this moment," he added.

Kim Yong-nam was interviewed in Pyongyang. He denied reports that Kim Jong-il has appointed his third son Jong-un as his heir apparent, which he described as an "attempt by some foreign media outlets to stifle our rise and prosperity." He added, "Our people are now strongly united under chairman Kim Jong-il to safeguard the republic and socialism." He added Kim Jong-il is "currently running the entire party, state, and military energetically and wisely."

Kim Yong-nam also called for better relations with Tokyo. "We respect the Pyongyang Declaration" signed between the two sides on normalization of diplomatic relations, which  includes a Japanese promise to supply the North with economic assistance, including humanitarian aid and soft loans. "We must seriously overcome the unfortunate past based on this declaration."

He added, "We oppose the Japanese government's wrongful hostile policies, but the Japanese people are not our enemy. The prospect of [North] Korea-Japan relations will solely depend on the attitude of the Japanese government."

That is being read as an offer of dialogue to improve ties after the election of a new government in Japan. In August last year, during the Yasuo Fukuda's premiership, Pyongyang and Japan agreed to reopen investigations of Japanese citizens abducted by North Korea in the 1970s and 80s. But contacts stopped with the inauguration of the Taro Aso government in September last year.