TOKYO: North Korean leader Kim Jong Il is in good health and has not named his third son as his successor, the communist country's No. 2 leader said in an interview with a Japanese news agency Thursday. Kim Yong Nam, the head of the Presidium of the Supreme People's Assembly, said Kim Jong Il is running the country with "an abundance of energy" and said there has been no talk of succession, Kyodo News reported from the North's capital of Pyongyang. Kim Jong Il, who is 67, is believed to have suffered a stroke last year. He inherited leadership of impoverished North Korea upon his father's death in 1994, 20 years after being anointed the heir apparent. Kim has not publicly named his successor but is widely reported to be grooming his third son, 26-year-old Jong Un, to take over. Kyodo reported that Kim Yong Nam said such reports were groundless. "We think that some of the foreign media run (such reports) in an attempt to stifle our rise and prosperity," it quoted him as saying. He added that the North Korean people are in "firm solidarity" behind the ruling communist party, Kyodo said. Kim Jong Il's failure to appear at a massive military parade for the country's milestone 60th anniversary one year ago sparked feverish speculation about his health and concern that his sudden death could trigger a succession crisis in the nation he rules with absolute authority. Speculation on his health has eased since he received former President Bill Clinton last month in a landmark meeting that led to the release of two detained U.S. journalists.