Paris - North Korean strongman Kim Jong-il suffered a stroke last summer but was now on the mend, a French doctor who treated him told the daily Le Figaro.

"Kim Jong-il was the victim of a stroke, but he did not undergo surgery," Francois-Xavier Roux, head of neurosurgery at Sainte-Anne Hospital in Paris, told the newspaper on Thursday.

"Today, he is doing better. The photographs that have just been published seem genuine to me," Roux said.

Roux's comment is the first independent confirmation of Kim's illness. His failure to appear at a military parade in September provoked speculation that he had fallen seriously ill, which was denied by authorities in Pyongyang.

Roux, a friend of French Foreign Minister Bernard Kouchner, said that he believed that Kim was in charge of North Korea, but said that patient-doctor confidentiality prevented him from giving more details.

Le Figaro said Roux's last visit to Kim's bedside dates back to late October. (dpa)