N. Korean leader visits industrial complex in Yangzhou

(ATTN: RECASTS throughout with North Korean leader's possible meeting with former and current Chinese officials)
BEIJING/YANGZHOU, May 23 (Yonhap) -- North Korean leader Kim Jong-il visited an economic development zone and a discount store in the eastern city of Yangzhou on Monday in a trip apparently designed to study China's economic reform, a source said.
After his two separate outings, Kim appeared to be staying at a guest house for a possible meeting with Vice President Xi Jinping and former Chinese leader Jiang Zemin, the source said.
Xi, widely tipped as China's next leader, is said to have greeted Kim at the city's train station on Sunday night before taking the North Korean leader to the guest house where Kim's late father stayed two decades ago.



North Korea's founder Kim Il-sung met with Jiang in Yangzhou in 1991.
China's state media has regularly reported news on top officials, but there was no word on Xi since Friday, raising the prospect that the leader-in-waiting may be accompanying the North Korean leader.
The fact that Xi is believed to be aligned with the "Shanghai faction" led by Jiang also fueled speculation that Kim may have met with Xi and Jiang at the guest house.
Kim's meeting with Jiang, if confirmed, may be part of Kim's efforts to broaden Chinese endorsement of his plan to extend his family dynasty into a third generation, considering that Jiang is still believed to wield considerable clout.
Kim named his youngest son, Jong-un, vice chairman of the Central Military Commission of the North's ruling Workers' Party and a four-star general last year in the clearest sign yet to making him the next North Korean leader.
Though China has indicated that it would support the power succession plan, there could be some voices inside China against patronizing a dynastic power transfer in a country with nuclear ambitions.
Kim reached this eastern city, west of Shanghai, by train on Sunday on his third trip to China, the North's last remaining ally, in just over a year.
Though details of Kim's itinerary remain sketchy, a special train that carried him to Yangzhou is not at the city's train station, triggering speculation that the North's leader may travel to another city, possibly Shanghai.
Kim last visited Shanghai in 2001 and marveled at its development.
Chinese Premier Wen Jiabao said Sunday in Tokyo that Beijing invited Kim in an effort to help Pyongyang learn about Chinese economic development and use it for reviving the North's economy.