Seoul, May 03: North Korean leader Kim Jong Il was believed to be making a rare trip to China on Monday amid tensions over the recent sinking of a South Korean warship and stalled nuclear disarmament negotiations, South Korean news reports said.
Kim’s train arrived early Monday in tight security at the Chinese border town of Dandong, and the delegation later headed to the port city of Dalian, the Yonhap news agency said. A convoy of 15 limousines was seen arriving at the Furama Hotel, the report said.
North Korea’s reclusive leader rarely travels abroad but had been rumored to be planning a trip to neighboring China. He was believed to be on board the train that arrived in Dandong to a phalanx of Chinese soldiers and police blocking traffic and access to the area, Yonhap said, citing unidentified sources in Dandong and Beijing.
Officials at South Korea’s presidential Blue House, Unification Ministry and National Intelligence Service said they could not immediately confirm the reports.
A potential Kim visit to China has been a focus of intense attention in recent months, with six-nation nuclear disarmament talks stalled for a year and tensions rising over the sinking of a South Korean naval ship in late March.
Kim, following through on Chinese President Hu Jintao’s invitation last year to visit China, was expected to ask Beijing for financial help as Pyongyang copes with an economic crisis at home.
North Korea quit the disarmament-for-aid talks and conducted a second nuclear test last year, drawing tightened U.N. sanctions. China is North Korea’s last ally and biggest aid provider and is widely seen as the country with the most clout with its communist neighbor.
The trip would be Kim’s first to China since 2006 and his first since reportedly suffering a stroke in August 2008. Kim, who turned 68 in February, is believed to be grooming his youngest son, Kim Jong Un, to succeed him as leader of the nation of 24 million.
Kim, known to shun air travel, reportedly has six luxurious trains equipped with reception halls, conference rooms and high-tech communication facilities.
To cope with any possible attempts to harm Kim, his special train typically travels flanked by two other trains, one that ensures the safety of railway lines and another carrying security agents, according to South Korean media.
However, Kim’s 17-car train crossed the border on its own Thursday, Yonhap said.
In Dalian, a northern port city about 200 miles (300 kilometers) west of Dandong, a group of Asians was seen entering the Furama Hotel, Seoul broadcaster YTN said. It was not clear if the delegation included Kim and other high-level North Korean officials.
A switchboard operator at Furama Hotel in Dalian told The Associated Press security had been tightened but she would not say whether Kim was expected or whether guests had been told to vacate the hotel.
The reported visit takes place as South Korea investigates the deadly sinking of a South Korean warship near the tense maritime border with the North.
South Korea has not directly blamed its Cold War-era rival and North Korea has denied involvement, but suspicion has focused on Pyongyang, given its history of provocations and attacks on the South. Seoul officials have vowed retaliation against the culprits behind the March 26 tragedy that killed 46 sailors in one of the country’s worst naval disasters.
The two Koreas remain locked in a state of war because their three-year conflict ended in a truce in 1953, not a peace treaty. The South Korean warship went down near the spot where the Koreas’ navies have fought three bloody sea battles since 1999. North Korea disputes the maritime border drawn by the United Nations.
The United Nations, meanwhile, was poised to convene a twice-a-decade conference in Washington on Monday to review the Nuclear Nonproliferation Treaty. North Korea withdrew from the treaty in 2003.
—Agencies