Kin of N Korea's Kim hurt in accident-Yonhap

SEOUL, Oct 8 (Reuters) North Korean leader Kim Jong-il's brother-in-law and longtime aide was severely injured in a car accident late last month, South Korea's Yonhap news agency reported today.

It quoted unnamed intelligence sources familiar with North Korea as saying Jang Song-thaek, a senior member of the ruling Workers' Party, was hurt when his Mercedes was hit by a military truck at a crossroad in Pyongyang.

Officials at South Korea's Unification Ministry could not immediately be reached for comment.

Jang, husband of Kim's younger sister Kim Kyong-hee, made a political comeback late last year after he was believed to have been sidelined in early 2004 in a power struggle within the secretive government.

Yonhap said there was speculation in North Korea that Jang's accident was the result of a plot by his political enemies.

The accident followed reports that his daughter, Jang Keum-son, committed suicide in Paris in August. There was conjecture in the South Korean media at the time that she had killed herself rather than return to the reclusive state.

REUTERS LL HT1055