Kim Jong Il, wearing sunglasses, gets into a car as he leaves a hotel in Dalian, north-eastern China today
These TV images (above and below) claim to show the 17-carriage armoured train carrying the North Korean leader as it crosses a bridge from his country into China
North Korean leader Kim Jong-Il is said to have travelled to China from North Korea today
North Korea’s leader Kim Jong-Il appears to have made a rare overseas trip to China this morning, reports suggest.
The suspected journey was reported after his luxury 17-car train was seen crossing into China at the border city of Dandong in the early hours of Monday morning and would be the leader’s first trip out of his home country in years.
The train arrived to a phalanx of soldiers and police, and a convoy of 15 limousines was seen arriving at the city's Furama Hotel, reports said, citing unidentified sources in Dandong and Beijing.
A switchboard operator at the hotel said that security had been tightened but she would not say whether Kim was expected or whether guests had been told to vacate.
But the Yonhap news agency said Kim was expected to spend the night in Dalian before traveling onto Beijing.
There was no mention of the Kim trip to China in North Korean state media, which typically reports on his journeys after he returns.
South Korean officials said they could not confirm Kim's whereabouts. A spokesman at the National Intelligence Service, the main spy agency, said he was investigating whether Kim was on board the train. He spoke on condition of anonymity, citing agency policy.
China's Foreign Ministry and Communist Party were not available to comment Monday, a national holiday in China.
The trip would be Kim's first to China since 2006 and his first since reportedly suffering a stroke in August 2008.
Although the South Korean government would not confirm the reclusive leader’s trip, there have been rumours of the suspected visit for weeks now.
Kim Jong-Il’s visit, if confirmed, comes at an awkward time for Beijing.
The Chinese leadership has been trying to get Kim to agree to return to six-nation nuclear disarmament talks stalled now for a year, and believed that it had won the North Korean dictator's assent last October.
North Korea map
Since then, however, prospects for negotiations have dimmed. Pyongyang has been unwilling to comply with requests from the U.S. to resume the talks, and tensions have risen between North Korea and South Korea, partly over the mysterious ship sinking in late March in which 46 sailors were killed.
Worse for Beijing, the timing of the visit comes as a U.N. conference opens this week to review the Nuclear Nonproliferation Treaty and explore ways to strengthen its controls on the spread of nuclear materials.
A nuclear power, China is a backer of the treaty, but is expected to come under pressure to get North Korea to comply.
Rumours of a Kim trip first started when Chinese President Hu Jintao invited the notoriously reclusive leader for a visit in honour of the 60th anniversary of diplomatic ties between the allies.
China, which backed North Korea with troops during the 1950-53 Korean War, is North Korea's last remaining supporter and biggest provider of aid, and is widely seen as the country with the most clout with Pyongyang.
Yoo Ho-yeol, a professor of North Korean studies at Korea University south of Seoul, said he expected Kim to seek Beijing's help in addressing speculation that North Korea was involved in the downing of the Cheonan ship - and to ask for financial help in return for announcing Pyongyang's return to the nuclear talks.
North Korea quit the disarmament-for-aid talks a year ago, and then conducted a nuclear test that drew tightened U.N. sanctions.
The regime enacted currency reforms late last year in a bid to regain some control over the economy.
Tensions are also growing with wartime rival South Korea. The South has not directly blamed North Korea for the sinking of the warship, and Pyongyang has denied involvement.
But suspicion has focused on the North, given its history of provocations and attacks on the South.
The two Koreas remain locked in a state of war because their three-year conflict ended in a truce, not a peace treaty.
The South Korean warship went down March 26 near the spot where their navies have fought three bloody sea battles. North Korea disputes the maritime border.
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, has a fleet of luxurious trains equipped with reception halls, conference rooms and high-tech communication facilities, said Lee Yong-guk, a former Kim bodyguard who defected to South Korea in 2005.
He usually travels with a battalion of security agents.
In 2004, a massive explosion occurred near North Korea's Ryongchon Station just hours after Kim passed through from a trip to China.
More than 150 people died and 1,300 were injured, North Korean state media said.
In March, a report carried by China's official Xinhua News Agency cited rumours that the explosion was an attempt on Kim's life.
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