South Korea ? North Korea’s rubber-stamp parliament appointed Kim Jong Il to a third term today as leader of one of the world’s most reclusive nations, buoyed by a rocket launch heralded in state media as “historic” but assailed elsewhere as provocative.

State media said lawmakers re-elected Kim chairman of the powerful National Defense Commission at the opening session of the new parliament, an appointment that under the constitution makes him the nation’s top leader.

But there was no confirmation in a broadcast on state TV that Kim himself was presiding over the session in what would be his first major public appearance since reportedly suffering a stroke last August.

Kim, 67, fell out of sight afterward. He failed to attend a milestone 60th anniversary parade, a no-show that sparked concerns about his health and fears of a succession crisis in the nuclear-armed nation. Pyongyang denies he was ill.