Pyongyang, Nov 1 (THAINDIAN NEWS) Speculation has been rife that Kim Jong Il has a very good-look alike who has been attending official functions on his behalf, as he himself is too ill to make it to the official functions.

Observers say that the communist country’s leader is too sick to make appearances, including August’s meeting with former President Bill Clinton, the Christian Science Monitor reports.

According to the Christian Science Monitor report, ‘a look-alike has been standing in for Il on some of the 122 trips he’s reportedly made this year to the countryside, factories, cultural events, military units, and all sorts of other venues’.

Ha Tae-young, president of Open Radio for North Korea, cites one recent North Korean defector who claimed that he knew a girl whose father was an actor for the leader. “Recently Kim Jong Il loses fat. He’s very skinny these days. The defector says, ‘If Kim Jong Il looks skinny, the actor can do the same thing’,” Ha said.