ID :
183382
Fri, 05/20/2011 - 16:38
Auther :
Shortlink :
https://oananews.org//node/183382
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N. Korean leader Kim Jong-il visits China: source
(ATTN: UPDATES throughout with comments by gov't sources; ADDS background and context in paras 3-15)
SEOUL, May 20 (Yonhap) -- North Korean leader Kim Jong-il was visiting China Friday, a Seoul government source said, contradicting earlier reports that his heir-apparent son, Jong-un, traveled to the country.
The trip, if confirmed, will be the leader's third in slightly over one year. He had visited China in early May and late August last year.
Confusion arose over the leader's secretive trip because of the possibility that his son and heir-apparent, Kim Jong-un, might be accompanying him.
Neither North Korea nor China made any announcement on the trip. Pyongyang and Beijing usually confirm the leader's trip only after he returns home apparently due to security concerns.
A source in the Chinese border city of Tumen earlier had said that Jong-un crossed the border into China by train early Friday, but the South Korean government source said later that the leader's presence in China has been confirmed.
The name of the junior Kim was not on an official list of about 70-member entourage accompanying the leader who was staying at a top hotel in Mudanjiang in northeast China, said the source.
The absence of the junior Kim's name on the official list does not necessarily mean that he is not traveling with his father, the source said. The junior Kim, believed to be in his late 20s, reportedly has a standing invitation to visit China.
Kim Jong-il has been ruling the communist country with an iron fist since 1994 when he took over the country of 24 million people after his father, the North's founder Kim Il-sung, died.
The 69-year-old leader has taken steps to extend his family dynasty into a third generation. He named his youngest son, Jong-un, vice chairman of the Central Military Commission of the ruling Workers' Party and a four-star general last year.
Kim's trip comes one day before leaders of South Korea, China and Japan are to meet in Tokyo. North Korea is expected to be on the agenda for talks between the leaders of South Korea and China on the sidelines of the annual three-way summit.
It also comes amid no signs of progress in international efforts to resume stalled six-party talks aimed at ending Pyongyang's nuclear weapons programs.
The North has expressed its willingness to rejoin the nuclear talks that it quit in 2009, but Seoul and Washington demand Pyongyang first demonstrate its denuclearization commitment by action. Seoul also wants Pyongyang to apologize for its two deadly attacks on the South last year that killed a total of 50 South Koreans, mostly soldiers.
The disarmament-for-aid talks also include host China, the U.S., Japan and Russia.
(END)
SEOUL, May 20 (Yonhap) -- North Korean leader Kim Jong-il was visiting China Friday, a Seoul government source said, contradicting earlier reports that his heir-apparent son, Jong-un, traveled to the country.
The trip, if confirmed, will be the leader's third in slightly over one year. He had visited China in early May and late August last year.
Confusion arose over the leader's secretive trip because of the possibility that his son and heir-apparent, Kim Jong-un, might be accompanying him.
Neither North Korea nor China made any announcement on the trip. Pyongyang and Beijing usually confirm the leader's trip only after he returns home apparently due to security concerns.
A source in the Chinese border city of Tumen earlier had said that Jong-un crossed the border into China by train early Friday, but the South Korean government source said later that the leader's presence in China has been confirmed.
The name of the junior Kim was not on an official list of about 70-member entourage accompanying the leader who was staying at a top hotel in Mudanjiang in northeast China, said the source.
The absence of the junior Kim's name on the official list does not necessarily mean that he is not traveling with his father, the source said. The junior Kim, believed to be in his late 20s, reportedly has a standing invitation to visit China.
Kim Jong-il has been ruling the communist country with an iron fist since 1994 when he took over the country of 24 million people after his father, the North's founder Kim Il-sung, died.
The 69-year-old leader has taken steps to extend his family dynasty into a third generation. He named his youngest son, Jong-un, vice chairman of the Central Military Commission of the ruling Workers' Party and a four-star general last year.
Kim's trip comes one day before leaders of South Korea, China and Japan are to meet in Tokyo. North Korea is expected to be on the agenda for talks between the leaders of South Korea and China on the sidelines of the annual three-way summit.
It also comes amid no signs of progress in international efforts to resume stalled six-party talks aimed at ending Pyongyang's nuclear weapons programs.
The North has expressed its willingness to rejoin the nuclear talks that it quit in 2009, but Seoul and Washington demand Pyongyang first demonstrate its denuclearization commitment by action. Seoul also wants Pyongyang to apologize for its two deadly attacks on the South last year that killed a total of 50 South Koreans, mostly soldiers.
The disarmament-for-aid talks also include host China, the U.S., Japan and Russia.
(END)
