|
|
The private train of North Korean leader Kim Jong-il. A yellow star decorates the front of the bullet and explosive-proof train, which is equipped with state-of-the-art communications equipment and has a bedroom, office, meeting room and dining room.
Chosun.com
|
|
The Chosun Ilbo newspaper said a senior military official was staying in Beijing to discuss the summit this week. "Authorities in Seoul and Washington were briefed that Kim Jong-Il is to take a three-day trip to China around Aug. 30," the source said.
South Korean sources said the train reportedly departed from Pyongyang to the Chinese border on Tuesday after Chinese authorities asked him “to visit China as soon as possible,” said Yonhap news agency, and “help resolve problems.”
Officials and analysts in Seoul say China signaled anger over North Korea's missile tests on July 5 against its advice, which could prompt rival Japan to build up military forces.
They said China has already reduced its food and oil supplies to the North as punishment for the missile tests. China holds the key to the North's economic survival because it is the key supplier of food and fuel to the impoverished, isolated country.
Japan's Sankei Shimbun newspaper also said Kim would visit China this week, citing multiple sources.
Other sources said China might reconsider its ties with the North and end its policy to support for the defiant Kim Jong-Il regime.
In response, Pyongyang also expressed discontent about China. Kim Jong-Il has called China "unreliable," saying his country should overcome the international standoff over its nuclear and missile programs on its own, according to Japan's Kyodo News.
Kim's expressed his open skepticism towards China last month when top North Korean envoys gathered in Pyongyang, just after the UN Security Council adopted a resolution imposing weapons-related sanctions on the North over its missile launches, Kyodo News said, citing diplomatic sources.
China, along with Russia, accepted the UN resolution presented by Japan and the United States, which embarrassed the North.
"Hu is expected to urge Kim to refrain from a nuclear weapons test," the diplomatic source said. "They would also discuss bilateral ties soured following the North's missile tests last month."
South Korean officials said they could not immediately confirm the reports, but said Kim's visit, if realized, would be focused on the North's nuclear activities and strained relations.
China, the only remaining communist ally of North Korea, is believed to have significant leverage over the impoverished communist neighbor, as it is a key supplier of food and fuel to the North.
South Korea's top presidential security adviser, Song Min-Soon, said after his visit to Beijing Aug. 24-25 that South Korea and China have agreed to try to dissuade North Korea from conducting any nuclear test, warning it would "lead to a serious situation."
Christopher Hill, the U.S. assistant secretary of state for East Asia and the Pacific, is also reportedly planning to visit China in early September to urge Beijing's pressure on North Korea.
