The Roh 'n Kim show Part V: Perkier, Merrier, Chattier

Apparently, what with Roh in town and all that, the Dear Leader couldn't see the point of "lazing around at home". He is not - and he emphasised this very clearly - "a patient".

Now, I've seen some violent mood swings in my time, but today's appearance by the Dear Leader was the second "blimey" of the North-South Summit. With his liver problems and all that, I'm sure Kim has stopped drinking as heavily as he is reputed to have done in the past (er..). But if I didn't know better, I'd say this was a tyrant who had, by Wednesday, recovered fully from the hangover that slowed him down and left him slack-jawed on Tuesday.

I jest. But the change really was an eye-popper. Gone was sour, dour, expressionless and icy Kim Jong Il we saw on the red carpet yesterday. In his place was the masterful old despot we've come to recognise. Smiling, animated and, to some extent, lighter on his feet. The body language was less pained. The demeanour, if not exactly amicable, was certainly less of a snub to president Roh.

And, for the first time that anyone can remember, Kim actually referred to his health in public. Very, very interesting. He must have read some of the international coverage of his little display yesterday and judged that, rather than coming across as a flint-hearted, domineering man of iron, his act meant he came across to the world as a heavily-medicated zombie.

So it may just have been a piece of clever recovery-PR. What was going on with this extraordinary switch will, I'm sure, remain a mystery. Pyongyang-watchers will doubtless read much into the fact that Kim felt the need to dismiss rumours of his ill health. He must know about the currency achieved by recent rumours about heart surgery. Once again, we're left with the "expertise" of the entrail-readers outside the DPRK to tell us what they think is going on in the mind of a tyrant that quite possibly nobody on earth fully understands.