North Korean leader Kim Jong-il is reportedly relying on expensive, rare, herbal medicines to maintain his health.

A government official in Seoul said Wednesday that the reclusive leader is taking rare oriental medicine made of rhinoceros horn and bear’s gallbladder.

Another source said North Korean officials visited Beijing twice in 2008 to buy medicine for Kim, adding that when Kim’s eldest son, Jong-nam, went to Beijing he used over 600-thousand dollars to buy medicine.

Kim reportedly suffered a stroke in August 2008 and has not appeared in public for months.

The North’s state-run media has shown footage of a much thinner Kim making relatively few public appearances, including a visit to a dance performance and the construction sites of a hotel and a mine.

The report came as the reclusive leader marked his 68th birthday on Tuesday.