The North Korean leader, Mr Kim Jong-il, is reported to be on a secret week-long visit to China as part of efforts to open up his country's economy to the outside world.
The visit - only the second official trip the reclusive Mr Kim has made abroad in 18 years - is seen as an indication that he may visit South Korea shortly in another step towards reunification.
News agencies said yesterday Mr Kim arrived in China on Monday for talks with Chinese leaders on inter-Korean relations and to visit successful industrial centres in the south.
Interestingly, while not confirming the visit, the Chinese authorities did not deny it outright. Contacted by The Irish Times yesterday, the Foreign Ministry in Beijing said it did not have any information on the visit.
The North Korean embassy in Beijing also professed ignorance of the trip.
However, reporters from China's state media, which have a monopoly on coverage of events which the government deems sensitive, confirmed indirectly that Mr Kim had met top leaders.
Asked if they had stories or pictures of Mr Kim meeting Chinese leaders, they said they did not know when they would be allowed to release them.
Mr Kim visited China in May of last year before his summit in Pyongyang with the South Korean President, Mr Kim Dae-jung. A reciprocal meeting, expected later this year, may now take place as soon as the spring, some observers said yesterday.
This second visit would enable Mr Kim to confer with China's leaders before the inauguration of incoming US President George W. Bush on Saturday.
Mr Bush has indicated he would take a tougher line with North Korea than his predecessor, President Clinton.
According to the news agency, Yonhap, Mr Kim is in Shanghai and will be inspecting the city's showcase Pudong industrial zone.
Yonhap quoted sources as saying the North Korean leader would also tour the southern city of Shenzhen where China launched its pilot economic reforms in the 1980s.
Shanghai and Shenzhen are considered examples of communist states opening their economy without easing political controls.
Reports said that Mr Kim arrived in China on a special train from North Korea accompanied by 20 high-ranking officials, including the head of the general Political Department of North Korea, Mr Jo Myong-rok.
On his last visit to China, his first outside North Korea since 1983, Mr Kim paid a visit to Beijing's high-tech zone in a show of interest in economic reform. That visit was confirmed only after he returned to Pyongyang.
In contrast to his image as a leader of a hermit state with a limited grasp of world affairs, Mr Kim came across as a well-informed leader on that occasion.
The meeting in Pyongyang last June between President Kim Dae-jong and Mr Kim Jong-il ended a 55-year standoff between the two heavily armed adversaries.