Sept. 21 (Bloomberg) -- North Korean leader Kim Jong Il is “pretty healthy” and in control of the communist state, President Barack Obama said after speculation the 67-year-old dictator suffered a stroke last year.

“For a while people thought he was slipping away,” Obama said of Kim in an interview with CNN broadcast yesterday. “He’s reasserted himself” and seems less concerned now about the question of succession.

Obama said the assessment of Kim’s health came from former U.S. President Bill Clinton, who visited North Korea last month to secure the release of two detained U.S. journalists. Clinton saw the regime leader “close up” and spoke with him, providing valuable insight, the president said.

Obama said he was hopeful of seeing progress in nuclear disarmament talks with North Korea, adding it was a “success story” that a coalition including China and Russia had held together to apply sanctions on Kim’s regime.

“I think that North Korea is saying to itself, you know, we can’t just bang our spoon on the table and somehow think that the world is going to react positively,” Obama said.

Kim’s regime detonated a second nuclear device in May, triggering United Nations Security Council sanctions and escalating military tension on the Korean peninsula. The North Korean leader last week told a Chinese envoy he’s prepared to resume international talks on dismantling his nuclear program, China’s Xinhua News Agency reported.

The so-called six-party forum, involving the U.S., China, Russia, Japan and South Korea, has tried to persuade North Korea to dismantle its nuclear weapons program in exchange for economic aid and improved ties.

The regime formally quit the negotiations to protest UN condemnation of its April 5 firing of a Taepodong-2 rocket over the Sea of Japan.

In a letter to the Security Council earlier this month, North Korea said it is “weaponizing” plutonium and has almost succeeded in highly enriching uranium, the second means for creating a nuclear device.

To contact the reporter on this story: Ed Johnson in Sydney at ejohnson28@bloomberg.net.

Last Updated: September 20, 2009 21:04 EDT