President Lee Myung-bak presided over a meeting with Senior Secretaries at 8:30 this morning. At the meeting, the participants had in-depth discussions focusing on two issues. The first was about speculations that National Defense Commission Chairman Kim Jong-il of North Korea might be seriously ill. The other was the supplementary budget proposal.

Regarding the speculations, based on intelligence reports that the Government has been receiving for quite a while, it had projected that the North Korean leader might not be able to attend yesterday’s military parade in celebration of North Korea’s 60th anniversary despite its significance. The Government has been paying keen attention to how the situation has unfolded. It will continue to watch the situation in Pyongyang closely and will thoroughly respond to any developments on an on-going basis.