North Korean leader Kim Jong-il is believed to be seriously ill after he failed to attend a parade for North Korea’s 60th anniversary. 

From the New York Times:

 The North Korean leader Kim Jong-il is seriously ill and might have suffered a stroke weeks ago, an American intelligence official in Washington said Tuesday, after Mr. Kim failed to attend an unexpectedly small-scale celebration of his country’s 60th anniversary.

The official, speaking on condition of anonymity, said that the exact status of the North Korean’s health was unclear, but that it did not seem Mr. Kim was on the verge of death.

Mr. Kim’s health is the focus of intense attention among governments and security experts. He leads one of the world’s most isolated and unpredictable regimes, one with a nuclear weapons program that is the focus of international concern.

Mr. Kim, 66, has not missed any of the 10 previous military or militia parades staged for major party, military and state anniversaries, in which columns of armored vehicles and rocket launchers rumbled through the capital Pyongyang’s main plaza as legions of goose-stepping soldiers saluted him.