Seoul - North Korean leader Kim Jong Il visited two factories recently, state media reported Tuesday, after speculation by foreign media that the reclusive leader had suffered a stroke.

The 66-year-old leader visited a machinery plant and cosmetics factory in the western city of Sinuiju on the border with China, North Korea's official Korean Central News Agency (KCNA) said. No date was given for the visits.

KCNA also published two pictures which show a seemingly healthy Kim in a brown overcoat and sunglasses.

Seoul - South Korea's GM Daewoo Auto and Technology Co, a subsidiary of the financially troubled US carmaker General Motors Corp, said Tuesday that it would halt a production line in December because of sagging sales brought on by the global financial crisis.

The assembly line for mid-sized cars and sports utility vehicles at GM Daewoo's largest plant at Bupyong near Seoul is to come to a halt from Monday through January 4, a company spokesman said in Seoul.

A second production line at Bupyong for compact cars is to be closed down from December 22 to January 4, just like GM Daewoo plants at Kunsan and Changwon.

Seoul, Nov. 24: South Korea on Monday expressed "serious regret" over North Korea''s decision to restrict inter-Korean economic cooperation programs.

North Korea announced early in the day that it will suspend tourist program to its border city of Kaesong, shut border-crossings for economic cooperation and trade, halt the inter-Korean rail service and decrease South Korean manpower at the joint industrial complex at Kaesong from December 1.

Seoul - Shares tumbled 3.4 per cent Monday on

Seoul - North Korea said Monday it will suspend cross-border rail service, effectively closing the land border with the South, and expel South Korean personnel from an industrial complex just inside its border, starting next month.

A statement by the North's military carried by the official Korean Central News Agency, said it would also suspend all tours to its border city of Kaesong near the industrial site as well as halting rail traffic across the border starting December 1 in protest of Seoul's tough policy toward Pyongyang.

North Korea had warned two weeks ago that it would restrict overland passages across the inter-Korean border.

Seoul - Shares jump