North Korea says that its leader Kim Jong-il, who is rumored to be sick, has conveyed his gratitude to exemplary workers.

The North's official Korean Central Broadcasting Station said Monday that Kim delivered messages of thanks to workers at a Pyongyang rubber factory, a power plant on the Yeseong River and staff members and employees of a clothing factory in northwestern Pyongyang.

The North Korean media continue to stress Kim's situation is nothing less than ordinary. The report says Kim has been dispatching letters to foreign leaders and thanking North Korean residents despite his rumored illness.