A special train carrying North Korean leader Kim Jong-Il passed through China's Shenyang city on Saturday heading southwest, raising speculation of a summit in Beijing, Yonhap news agency reported.
Analysts said Kim's trip, the third in just over a year to his impoverished country's main ally and benefactor, appears aimed at securing economic aid and showing he is still firmly in charge despite plans for an eventual succession.
The South Korean news agency, citing a source in the northeastern city of Shenyang, said the train's direction suggested he might meet Chinese President Hu Jintao in Beijing.
Like all such trips, the current visit is shrouded in secrecy, with officials in Beijing refusing even to confirm the leader's presence.
State-controlled media in North Korea and China report on Kim's trips only after he is headed home.
Hu met Kim in the northeastern city of Changchun during his last visit in August 2010 and urged his guest to open up the North's state-directed economy.
Kim's regime is believed to fear a loss of control which economic reforms would bring but his country's economy is in dire straits and its people suffer persistent severe food shortages.
UN agencies have said six million people — a quarter of the population — need urgent food aid.
The trips to China by the reclusive leader "underscore the North's desperate need" for aid from China, Professor Cho Young-Ki of Korea University told the Chosun daily.
The United States said Friday it would send a team to Pyongyang in the coming week to evaluate a request for food aid.
Kim inspected a car factory in the northeastern city of Changchun before his train left, news reports said. The plant is operated by FAW Group, China's second-largest automaker by sales.
South Korea partially severed economic ties with its neighbour after two deadly border incidents last year which it blamed on the North.
UN and US sanctions imposed to curb the North's nuclear and missile programmes have also discouraged foreign investment.
Six-party talks aimed at scrapping the North's nuclear programme in exchange for diplomatic and economic benefits have been stalled for more than two years, although China is trying to revive them.
The visit also shows Kim is firmly in charge despite health concerns, analysts say.
Kim, 69, suffered a stroke in August 2008 and has since been putting in place a succession plan involving his youngest son and heir apparent Kim Jong-Un.
News reports in Seoul said Kim was apparently not accompanied by Jong-Un. A hotel list of Kim's 70-member entourage did not show the son's name.
Jong-Un, believed aged 27, was made a four-star general last September and given major posts in the ruling communist party to confirm his status as leader-in-waiting.
Professor Kim Yong-Hyun of Dongguk University said the trip, along with Kim's schedule of inspection visits at home, corroborated the belief that the North Korean leader's health had improved.
Through this visit, he is showing off his health and tight grip on power, the professor told the Hankyoreh Daily.
Professor Yang Moo-Jin of Seoul's University of North Korean Studies told the daily that Kim senior will take care of national security and diplomacy, while his son will continue accumulating experience, focusing on domestic affairs.
Chinese state media remained tight-lipped on Kim's trip. But an editorial in the Communist Party-linked Global Times hailed "high-level exchanges" between China and North Korea for easing tensions on the Korean peninsula.
"Such a mechanism was again evident Friday when the North Korean leader, Kim Jong-il, reportedly paid his third visit to China in a year," it said.
"The world now needs to take a very patient and flexible attitude in dealing with North Korea. It is fortunate that there still remains an effective communication channel between China and North Korea".
Share This Article With Planet Earth
