NORTH KOREA’S reclusive leader Kim Jong-il boarded his custom-made train for his second visit this year to China, his country’s main ally, and brought along his third and youngest son, Kim Jong-un, as he seeks to cement the world’s only communist dynasty.
The timing of the visit was particularly surprising because it coincided with a visit to Pyongyang by former US president Jimmy Carter, who was in North Korea to secure the release of a Christian activist jailed for trespassing. It had been presumed the two would meet. It is just three months since Mr Kim’s last visit to China.
As usual, there was no confirmation of Mr Kim’s trip to China from either government, so it is unclear whom Mr Kim will meet during his visit – there were reports that Chinese vice-president Xi Jinping was headed to Jilin to meet him.
North Korea’s economy is in a constant state of near-collapse and aid from China is said to be keeping it going. The North’s peremptory approach however to nuclear testing has angered its only significant friend, and China has even co-operated with the United Nations in sanctions against the North, an unheard of development just a few years ago.
Teachers at a school in Jilin city in northeastern China confirmed that Mr Kim had visited, although they could not say for sure if he was with his son.
The Yuwen Middle School was once famous for its communist teaching staff.
Mr Kim’s father, the late supreme leader Kim Il Sung, attended the school from 1927 to 1930 after his family fled the Japanese occupation of Korea.
Identifying Kim Jong-un is no easy matter and sightings of him have been wrong before. Last year a Japanese TV station ran a photo of what it said was Jong-un, but it turned out to be that of a South Korean construction worker.
Kim Jong-il suffered a stroke in August 2008 and the China visit is probably an introductory meeting to present his chosen heir to his key allies.
Kim Jong-un is the Swiss-educated third son of Kim Jong-il and was born in 1983 or 1984 to his late wife, a Japanese-born professional dancer, Ko Yong-hui.
Kim Jong-il has asked North Korea’s main bodies and overseas missions to pledge loyalty to him. Kim Jong-un is expected to be granted a key party position next month when the new ruling Workers’ Party leaders are due to be elected.
Even though it is only three months since his last trip, Mr Kim will have plenty to talk about with his Chinese friends.
China is keen to restart six-nation talks involving both Koreas, Japan, the US, China and Russia on ending the North’s nuclear programme. North Korea walked away from the nuclear disarmament talks last year in protest at an international condemnation of a long-range rocket launch.
Tensions are also high after a South Korean warship sank in March, killing 46 sailors. A Seoul- led international investigation blamed Pyongyang for torpedoing the ships. North Korea denies involvement. Nuclear issues are never far away when it comes to North Korea.
Mr Carter was met in Pyongyang by top North Korean nuclear envoy Kim Kye-gwan and the country’s second most powerful nuclear official Ri Gun, a sign that this visit is as much about North Korea’s nuclear ambitions as it is about releasing a US national.
Aijalon Mahli Gomes (31), a Boston teacher linked to the Evangelist Christian movement, was convicted in April of crossing into North Korea illegally from China.