The government has denied a Japanese report that North Korean leader Kim Jong-il could be ill or facing a military coup.

A government official on Friday said that the Japanese report on Kim seems groundless as Seoul has detected nothing unusual in the North.

The official added that there is no evidence to back the report, though he cannot confirm whether the North Korean leader is in Pyongyang now.

Quoting a source in South Korea, Japan's Jiji Press reported that Kim may be under house arrest at his villa in Wonsan along the east coast.