North Korea's Kim Jong-Il visits China: reports

AFP ^ | 01/10/06

[TigerLikesRooster]

North Korea's Kim Jong-Il visits China: reports

SEOUL (AFP) - North Korean leader Kim Jong-Il has travelled to China by special train on a rare visit to the isolated country's key ally, according to media reports here.

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The train carrying the reclusive North Korean leader passed through the Chinese border town of Dandong amid tight security before dawn on Tuesday, reports quoted unidentified sources as saying.

"The scene was quite similar to one in April 2004, when Kim Jong-il visited China by a special train," Yonhap news agency quoted a source as saying.

South Korea's National Intelligence Agency told AFP it was checking the report while the defense ministry, quoting military intelligence, said it had no information on the matter.

North Korean and Chinese media carried no reports of a visit by Kim, who rarely travels abroad.

Yonhap said the train was expected to arrive in Beijing around 4:00 pm (0800 GMT).

If confirmed, this would be Kim's fourth trip to China since May 2000. The reclusive leader last visited in April 2004.

China has hosted six-party talks aimed at ending the standoff over North Korea's nuclear weapons programme, and President Hu Jintao visited Pyongyang in October to discuss the stalled talks.

Under an accord reached at the talks in September, the Stalinist country agreed to eliminate its nuclear weapons in return for diplomatic and economic benefits.

But the last round of talks ended in stalemate in November after the Stalinist country demanded that the United States lift sanctions imposed on its firms.

The US Treasury Department in September told US financial institutions to stop dealing with a Macau bank, Banco Delta Asia, which it accused of being a front for North Korean counterfeiting.

A month later the US blacklisted eight North Korean companies allegedly involved in the spread of weapons of mass destruction.

Pyongyang denies the charges and insists that the sanctions, targeting the flow of hard currency to North Korea, are a major roadblock to six-party talks.

Washington insists sanctions are unrelated to the nuclear standoff which erupted in October 2002 over US charges that North Korea was seeking to build nuclear weapons through a secret uranium enrichment programme.

[TigerLikesRooster]

At this moment, Seoul is abuzz with allegation(a Korean article) of N. Korean oil desposits Chinese team has found in N. Western coast of N. Korea, bordering the Bohai Bay of China. It allegedly contains 5~6billion barrels of oil. Some in Seoul speculates that China and N. Korea may sign oil exploration deal, providing N. Korean regime with much need foreign hard currency, essential for its long-term survival, now that U.S. is choking its money-pipline from abroad.

If this is indeed true, the developing set-up has some similarity to the run-up to Iraq invasion. A major oil field in a rogue regime, which U.S. is trying to get rid of, while the promise of the oil field draws in a major power which is already at odds with U.S., intensifying conflict between the major power and U.S. It was EU(France/Germany) in case of Iraq, now it is China.

With the oil angle added now, Bush may yet again be accused of invading a country for oil by lefties.:(

[TigerLikesRooster]

Ping!

[pcottraux]

Wow, North Korea's so terrible, even HE doesn't like it!

[gaijin]

thanks for the ping.

[Proud_USA_Republican]

"Hey, how come you have all this food and luxury cars? WTF??????"

[Carry_Okie]

This could be very good news. It might mean that China would no longer be competing for the same limited oil supplies. Such might both depress prices and reduce China's motive for foreign intrigue. They might become a tad less paranoid as well.

[martin_fierro]

The train carrying the reclusive North Korean leader passed through the Chinese border town of Dandong amid tight security before dawn on Tuesday, reports quoted unidentified sources as saying.
"The scene was quite similar to one in April 2004, when Kim Jong-il visited China by a special train," Yonhap news agency quoted a source as saying.

Yeah, except that this time there were no massive explosions.

[wingman1]

"Yeah, except that this time there were no massive explosions."

There's still time. He has to make a return trip.

[MonroeDNA]

Take him out!

[confederate_infidel]

Let's just nuke China while he's there and take care of two birds with one stone.

[Thunder90]

Some reports also have Kim Jon Il visiting Russia.

[SevenofNine]

Tiger I hearing off Tass news wire Chia Pet may be on his way to RUSSIA NOW LOL!