The latest pictures of Kim Jong Il released by North Korea show him apparently making visits to machinery and soap-making factories.

The country's 'Dear Leader' provided 'field guidance' at the factories in the western city of Sinuiju on the border with China, North Korea's official Korean Central News Agency said.

KCNA did not provide an exact date of the visits but said Kim, believed to be recovering from a stroke, praised the machinery factory for fulfilling its assignments for this year 'as of the end of October.'

One of the released pictures showed the autocratic ruler and two aides standing near a large orange bulldozer during the factory tour. The other showed Kim outside a building at the soap factory.

In both images, Kim was wearing a brown coat and sunglasses, and looked healthy.

Kim reportedly suffered a stroke in August and underwent brain surgery, although North Korea denies he fell ill.

Tuesday's report was the latest KCNA report about Kim's public appearances. The last one, sent 9 days ago, said Kim attended cultural performances by the military.

The report came a day after North Korea announced it would halt tours of the historic city of Kaesong and stop train service across the border with the South because of what it said was Seoul's 'confrontational' policy toward the North.

The announcement laid out the first concrete measures Pyongyang plans to take in implementing its threat to restrict cross-border traffic with the South starting December 1.

However the North has decided not to close a joint industrial complex in Kaesong that has been a lucrative source of hard currency for the impoverished country.

Pyongyang has been unhappy with South Korea's conservative president, Lee Myung-bak, who has called for a tougher approach to the neighbor than his liberal predecessors.

Lee has raised questions about implementing key accords his predecessors struck with the North's Kim that call for providing aid to the North without condition. That and other moves by Seoul, including its recent sponsorship of a U.N. resolution denouncing Pyongyang's human rights record, have enraged the North.

Also angering Pyongyang have been propaganda leaflets condemning the communist regime sent by balloon by South Korean activists.

North Korea says the practice breaches a 2004 accord on ending propaganda. South Korea says it cannot ban the activists from sending the flyers because of their freedom of speech, though it has asked the activists to stop the activities.

On Tuesday, activists leaders said they considered suspending the leafletting, but decided to continue after Pyongyang's announcement Monday on the border restrictions.

"This is blackmail and a threat," Park Sang-hak, a North Korean defector who is leading the leafletting, said of the North's announcement.

Times Recommends

• Michael Jackson: Not the final chapter
• Indian Army spends10m rupees on golf buggies
• Brüno toned down for 15 rating