SEOUL -- North Kkorea, which says it will be Washington's next target after Iraq, said on Friday leader Kim Jong-il had visited a military medical university and dropped in on a lecture on field surgery.

Foreign and South Korean analysts said it was Kim's first reported appearance since February 12 when he visited the Russian Embassy for a reception to mark his birthday. Kim rarely appears in public but the 50-day hiatus had started to intrigue analysts.

Media and diplomats in Seoul have speculated Kim has been monitoring the U.S.-led Iraq war, ill or visiting military units. "After the U.S. engagement against Iraq, Kim Jong-il actually investigated and checked the readiness of the military," said Choi Choon-heum of the Korea Institute for National Unification, a Seoul think tank. "I think Kim Jong-il traveled to all sorts of military organizations or bunkers."

He told Reuters Kim had reappeared now to respond to reports questioning his whereabouts and visited the medical center to underscore his care and support for the armed forces -- his powerbase -- at a time of heightened tension on the Peninsula.

North Korea says it will be the next U.S. target after Iraq, noting the United States lumps Iraq, North Korea and Iran in an "axis of evil" for trying to develop weapons of mass destruction. ___ War Risk Low ---

Washington says it seeks a diplomatic solution to its standoff with the North over Pyongyang's nuclear ambitions, although it has not ruled out a military option.

The crisis has affected the South's economy. Investment house Merrill Lynch said in a report this week war risks were small but justified a conservative stance toward South Korean equities.

Seoul's Stock Market was the worst-performing in Asia in the first quarter. The Commerce Ministry said on Friday foreign direct investment could be hit if the nuclear crisis drags on.

North Korea has shown no sign of backing down from its demand for bilateral talks with the United States. Washington wants multilateral discussions and has pushed the UN Security Council to urge Pyongyang to fall into line.

The North's official KCNA news agency said Kim visited the armed forces' Kim Hyong-jik Military Medical University in Pyongyang "for a long time" on Thursday with the defense minister, chief of general staff and two other generals. "He dropped in at a lecture room where he inspected a lecture in field surgery," KCNA said. "He instructed that all students should work hard during their university days to prepare themselves as able army surgeons."

Kim tends to visit military units or factories and farms where he gives "on-the-spot guidance" as his late father and state founder Kim Il-sung also did. ___ "Sweeping Sea With a Broom" ---

The U.S. State Department's annual human rights report said on Monday Pyongyang's record remained poor. U.S. Envoy Jeane Kirkpatrick told the UN Commission on Human Rights in Geneva the next day North Korea was "hell on earth".

North Korea responded by saying efforts to undermine it were "as foolish as trying to sweep sea with a broom".

"as the Iraqi war shows, the U.S. is the most serious violator of human rights in our times and it is, therefore, not qualified to talk about human rights," KCNA quoted the Foreign Ministry as saying.

North Korea has also snubbed South Korea for backing the Iraq war and taking part in regular military exercises with U.S. troops in South Korea.

Pyongyang cancelled economic talks late last month and looked set to sit out a planned set of higher-level meetings next week. Kim Chong-ro, foreign media spokesman at the South Korean Unification Ministry, said by telephone that Seoul had sent a message to the North on Wednesday to confirm next week's scheduled talks but had yet to receive a reply. (Reuters)