North Korea's official media have dropped the honorific ``dear leader'' from reports on Kim Jong Il, a Japanese news agency reported a day after other reports said his portrait had been removed at some public sites. The North's Korean Central Broadcast, the Korean Central News Agency and other media are describing the nation's leader as ``general secretary of the Workers' Party of Korea,'' ``chairman of the Democratic People's Republic of Korea National Defense Commission'' and ``supreme commander of the Korean People's Army,'' Tokyo-based Radiopress said on its Web site. Lee Dong Bok, former assistant director of Seoul's National Intelligence Service, said he doesn't put much ``weight'' on the reports. Still, the reports have prompted questions about whether Kim is losing his grip on power or playing down the cult status imposed by his late father Kim Il Sung, who was called ``great leader'' by the government-owned media. The speculation comes amid international pressure for Kim to resume six-party talks on North Korea's nuclear program. Kim, 64, took over as dictator of the impoverished country after the death of his father in 1994. North Korea has suffered about a decade of drought, famine and economic mismanagement, relying on international aid to help feed its 22 million people. The U.S. Central Intelligence Agency has said the nation deals in arms and drugs to earn foreign currency.