North Korean leader Kim Jong-il 'visiting China with his son'
Visit triggers speculation that ailing dictator may be preparing to hand over power to his youngest son, Kim Jong-un
North Korea's leader, Kim Jong-il, prompted speculation that he will soon anoint a successor by making an unexpected trip today to the country's main ally, China.
The ailing dictator, who reportedly suffered a stroke two years ago, crossed the border in his armoured train and visited the Chinese school where his father, the former president Kim Il-sung, began taking an interest in communism.
The second trip to China in less than three months is unusual for Kim, who rarely leaves his home. Coming before a rare meeting of the North Korean Workers' party in Pyongyang, analysts said the visit might be aimed at laying the groundwork for a transfer of power to his third son, Kim Jong-un.
After recent floods in North Korea, Kim may be seeking more aid from his country's main benefactor, and discussing steps to resume six-party nuclear talks.
As with previous trips, neither government has commented on reports that Kim has crossed the border, but teachers at Yuwen middle school in Jilin province confirmed they had received a 20-minute visit. "He definitely came over," a physical education teacher who would give only his surname, Zhao, told the Associated Press. "But I'm not sure if his son was with him or what time he came."
According to South Korean media, Kim may be travelling with his son to consult with Chinese officials on plans to extend the world's only communist dynasty.
Analysts said Kim's reported trip to Beijing was probably connected to next month's party assembly, the first of its kind for more than 30 years. At the last such meeting, in 1980, the party confirmed Kim Jong-il's status as heir apparent to his father, Kim Il-sung, although he did not become leader until his father's death in 1994.
"There is so much circumstantial evidence pointing to the succession issue," said Daniel Pinkston, a North Korea expert with the International Crisis Group in Seoul. He said there were also signs that the North Koreans were looking for "cash aid and assistance".
"If the succession is being accelerated, then of course Kim has an incentive to address the economic problems and other issues which will be helpful for his son in the transition to taking power," he added.
The visit comes a day after the former US president Jimmy Carter arrived in Pyongyang to seek the release of an American who has been sentenced to eight years in prison for entering North Korea illegally.
There was no word today on the progress of Carter's mission, although reports suggested he would return to the US with Aijalon Gomes, a 31-year-old English teacher and Christian missionary.
Carter, who arrived yesterday on a private jet, accompanied by his wife, Rosalynn, is also expected to use the visit to engage in unofficial diplomacy with the regime, although the Obama administration has been quick to stress that he is on a private humanitarian visit.
"It's a mission to secure the release of Mr Gomes," said a US state department spokesman, Mark Toner. "But we don't want to jeopardise the prospects for Mr Gomes to be returned home by discussing any of the details."
Gomes, who had been teaching English in South Korea, crossed the border from China to North Korea in January. He is thought to have wanted to help Robert Park, a friend and fellow Christian who had entered North Korea illegally on Christmas Day. Park, who said he had wanted to draw attention to human rights abuses in the north, was expelled six weeks later.
Carter made his last trip to North Korea in 1994, and is credited with defusing a nuclear crisis after talks with the regime's then leader, Kim Il-sung.
Relations between Pyongyang and Washington have deteriorated since North Korea conducted its second nuclear test last year, a move that prompted tougher UN sanctions.
Tensions rose again earlier this year when international investigators said a North Korean torpedo had sunk the Cheonan, a South Korean warship, killing 46 sailors. The US responded by expanding sanctions designed to cut off funds to the regime's elite.
Washington refuses to negotiate with North Korea until it apologises for sinking the Cheonan. Pyongyang, meanwhile, has indicated it will return to nuclear talks – which also involve South Korea, China, Russia and Japan – in return for aid and the conclusion of a formal peace treaty with the US.
CHANGCHUN, China — North Korean dictator Kim Jong Il reportedly met top Chinese leaders on Friday in an apparent bid for Beijing's diplomatic and financial support for a succession plan involving his third and youngest son, who is said to be traveling with him.
Many North Korea watchers predict the son — Kim Jong Un, believed to be in his 20s — will be appointed to a key party position at a ruling Workers' Party meeting early next month — the first such gathering in decades.
To pull off the event with sufficient fanfare, North Korea will need Chinese aid, particularly following the devastating floods that battered the country's northwest this month, analysts said.
"The convention needs to be festive with the party giving out food or normalizing day-to-day life for its people but with the recent flood damages, they are not able to," said Cheong Seong-chang, a senior fellow at the Sejong Institute think tank outside Seoul.
"The most important thing on Kim's agenda is scoring Chinese aid, which will ensure that the meeting will be well received by the people."
Choi Jae-sung, an opposition lawmaker in South Korea's parliamentary intelligence committee, told The Associated Press that Kim Jong Il had breakfast Friday with a member of China's powerful Politburo Standing Committee in a hotel in northeast China's Jilin city, where he apparently stayed the night before.
Choi said Kim Jong Un accompanied his father, citing unidentified sources.
South Korea's MBC television reported Kim may later have met President Hu Jintao in Changchun, about an hour's drive from Jilin. It cited an unidentified diplomatic source in Beijing as saying Hu arrived in the afternoon and the two held talks at the city's South Lake Hotel.
South Korea's Yonhap news agency cited several unidentified diplomatic sources as saying Hu had gone to Changchun.
Asked whether Kim was visiting China, a duty officer with the press office of the Chinese Foreign Ministry said late Friday that "China and North Korea consistently maintain high level contacts. We will release the relevant information in good time."
China, as North Korea's biggest diplomatic ally and a major source of food aid and oil, would expect to be kept in the loop about major political transitions in Pyongyang, but the Beijing leadership is not likely to be enthusiastic about the prospect of another dynastic succession next door, said Zhu Feng, director of Peking University's Center for International and Strategic Studies.
Kim has three sons but is said to favor the youngest, despite his youth and inexperience. However, little is known about Kim Jong Un. The only known photo of him was taken when he was a child. If he assumes power, it will continue a dynastic tradition that began when Kim Jong Il took over after the death of his father, the late President Kim Il Sung.
"No, I don't think that China will be pleased to see that sort of succession, with Kim Jong Il's third son also now taking over as prince heir," said Zhu. "We would like to see the transition of power go smoothly but I don't think China will show any admiration for this sort of succession."
Kim Jong Il received years of support from his father, who appointed him to crucial posts, purged opponents, fostered contacts with powerful members of the government and created a cult of personality for him. Kim Jong Un has received little of this preparation.
Yet, withholding support is not a real option for Beijing because stability in North Korea remains a strategic priority for the Chinese government, said Shi Yinhong, a professor of international relations at Renmin University in Beijing.
"Whomever leads this regime, China has to accept it, and he will be at minimum a friend to China," Shi said. "I think China's relationship to this succession process is much simpler than most people around the world take into account."
"For China, this is an issue of having, at minimum, stability for its neighbor," he said.
Associated Press writers Jean H. Lee, Kwang-tae Kim and Sangwon Yoon in Seoul, South Korea, and Alexa Olesen in Beijing contributed to this report.
Copyright © 2010 The Associated Press. All rights reserved.
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