North Korean ruler Kim Jong-il’s armoured train arrived in Beijing today, setting the stage for a summit with Chinese leaders that he will want to underscore the bond between his isolated state and Asia’s biggest economy.
A motorcade later swept down central Beijing’s Chang’an Avenue under unusually tight police guard, suggesting the secretive Kim was in the Chinese capital.
South Korea’s Yonhap news agency said Kim was there “apparently for a summit meeting with Chinese President Hu Jintao”.
Neither China nor North Korea has confirmed the visit.
This would be the third trip to China in just over a year for Kim, who in previous years rarely travelled abroad and then only in his personal train, reportedly scared of flying.
Impoverished North Korea has recently been scouring the world for food aid and analysts say Kim is keen to ensure China’s support for his youngest son to eventually take over the family dynasty that has ruled the North since its founding.
As ties with South Korea and most of the outside world have soured, Pyongyang has been forced to rely increasingly on Beijing for economic and diplomatic support.
“He seems to want to tacitly remind China’s current leadership of their solidarity and call on them to fulfill their obligation as a big brother,” a South Korean newspaper, the JoongAng Daily, said.
“That’s in sharp contrast with the Chinese government’s purpose of inviting Kim: to stress economic reform.”
A number of analysts say China, keen to keep North Korea from collapse but concerned by its deep economic decline, has been prodding Pyongyang’s leaders to finally start economic reforms.
Chinese Premier Wen Jiabao told South Korean President Lee Myung-bak in Tokyo on the weekend that Kim was in China to study “economic development”, Yonhap reported, citing a South Korean presidential aide.
The reclusive Kim’s latest train journey to China began on Friday and took him through China’s frigid northeast to the prosperous eastern province of Jiangsu.
Kim visited China, his country’s sole major supporter, last year in early May and then in August. In the past, neither side has openly confirmed his visits until they are over.
Beijing sees North Korea as a strategic buffer against the US and its regional allies. It has sought to shore up ties with the North in recent years with more aid and trade and visits there by leaders.
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