Kim Jong-il Agrees to Visit China

In his first-ever meeting with a foreign envoy since his alleged grave illness last August, Kim Jong-il agreed to visit China, SBS reported Saturday.

In his meeting with the North Korea’s top leader, Wang Jiarui, chief of the international department in the Chinese Communist Party's central committee, read out a personal letter from Chinese President Hu Jintao, before giving it to Kim, Chinese state media CCTV reported.

In the letter, Hu invited Kim to visit China. Kim "warmly accepted" the invitation, Xinhua news agency said. China is the North's biggest economic benefactor.

Meanwhile, the North hinted in a New Year's message that it was willing to work with new U.S. President Barack Obama to resolve the nuclear issue. With Kim’s health recovering and now he has made a promise to visit China, some observers also cautiously express the possibility of Kim holding a summit with Obama as well.

During his presidential campaign, Obama on numerous occasions said that he would be willing to directly talk with North Korea to resolve the nuclear tension, which was taken by some analysts as a sign for a possible summit between the two enemy countries.