North Korean leader visits China, reports say

May 20, 2011, 12:49 GMT

Seoul/Beijing - North Korean leader Kim Jong Il on Friday arrived in China, his regime's only significant international ally, South Korean media reported.

Kim and his entourage of about 70 people arrived in the north-eastern city of Mudanjiang on a special train on Friday afternoon, South Korea's state-run television station KBS reported.

Kim's train passed the Chinese frontier city of Tumen on Friday morning, KBS quoted a South Korean official as saying.

The 69-year-old North Korean leader's group was staying at the Holiday Inn Mudanjiang hotel, KBS and other media reported.

An administrator at a hospital on Mudanjiang's Xidiming Street close to the Holiday Inn Mudanjiang said traffic was diverted away from the street on Friday.

'Today there are traffic controls police on the street until now,' the administrator told the German Press Agency dpa by telephone late Friday.

He said he did not know the reason for the police controls and had not heard of any visit by Kim.

Previous trips to China by Kim have not been confirmed by either the Chinese or North Korean governments until they are over.

Earlier South Korean media reports said Kim Jong Un, Kim Jong Il's son and likely successor, had arrived in Tumen.

South Korea's Yonhap news agency quoted an unidentified source as saying Kim Jong Un's name was not on an official travel list for the North Korean party.

Kim Jong Il has been a regular visitor to China in recent years.

During his last visit in August, Kim visited a monument in Mudanjiang that commemorates his father Kim Il Sung's fight against Japanese colonial rule.

Kim Jong Un, thought to be 27 years old, was made a four-star general and received several senior positions last year in an apparent move to prepare him for taking over power from his ailing father.

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