North Korea is increasingly focused on cyber warfare, improvised explosives and missile technology as the regime fears it would be defeated in a direct confrontation with US and South Korean forces, a US commander said on Tuesday.

The emphasis on unconventional methods comes amid signs North Korean leader Kim Jong-Il appears to be firmly "in charge" and in decent health, General Walter Sharp, commander of US forces in Korea, told reporters on Tuesday.

"I think the North Koreans probably realized they could not win in a normal conventional all-out attack," Sharp said.

Given the strength of South Korean and US forces, unconventional or "asymmetric" threats "are definitely where they're pushing towards," Sharp told a group of defense journalists.

The US mission was working to ensure it learned the lessons of wars in Iraq and Afghanistan, where homemade roadside bombs have been the weapon of choice for insurgents, he said.

The US military also was worried about North Korea building up cyber warfare tools, he said.

"I think they have seen some of the benefits of cyber, and what we rely on as far as our cyber network to be able to command and operate," he said.

As a result, South Korean and US forces had set up cyber commands to secure sensitive networks crucial to operations, he said.

North Korea's missile program also could be considered part of the same asymmetric strategy as it was designed as a tool of blackmail and to counter the strength of conventional allied forces, he said.

In response to the North Korean missile threat, South Korea recently bought Patriot missile defense batteries from Germany and was working with the US military to improve intelligence sharing.

North Korea quit disarmament talks in April in protest at the United Nations censure of its long-range rocket launch. It then conducted its second atomic weapons test in May, incurring stronger UN sanctions.

But this month leader Kim Jong-Il appeared to leave the door open for a return to six-party negotiations, telling a visiting Chinese envoy his country was willing to engage in bilateral and multilateral talks.

Although Kim has lost weight since he reportedly suffered a stroke in August 2008, Sharp said it appears Kim remains firmly at the helm and is in "decent health."

"He's in charge," he said.

Kim, 67, appeared to be behind a nuclear test and a series of missile launches as well as moves to free two abducted American journalists and allow for reunions between the North and South, the general said.

"Those (moves) had to come from him," Sharp said. "We've seen him out in public many more times this year than we have through the same period last year."

"I think part of that is he wants to convince his own people that he's in charge and he's OK."

Kim's 26-year-old son was being prepared to eventually succeed him, Sharp said. "There's some grooming going on and we'll see how long he has to groom," he said.

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