Kim Jong-Il becomes football hero for summit blog

0 Comments | AFP, October, 2007

SEOUL (AFP) — Kim Jong-Il, best known as the reclusive leader of communist North Korea, is getting an image makeover -- as a football hero.

For bloggers following the rare inter-Korean summit in Pyongyang, South Korean officials sketched a series of caricatures available for download of Kim and his Seoul counterpart President Roh Moo-Hyun.

In one sketch, the ordinarily stodgy and reserved Kim trades his trademark khaki jumpsuit for shorts and a jersey.

Kim is seen smiling and dribbling a soccer ball with teammate Roh to score a goal at a stadium festooned with slogans from the 2002 World Cup, which South Korea co-hosted with Japan.

Another cartoon shows Kim and Roh watering a tree bearing a fruit of mobile telephones and clocks, a reference to the...