N. Korean leader makes surprise visit to China

By Kang Hyun-kyung

North Korean leader Kim Jong-il arrived in China on his special train early Thursday morning possibly for talks with Chinese leaders, according to multiple sources.

The purpose of his surprise visit is unclear but experts speculate that it may have something to do with the grooming of Kim’s third son, Jong-un, as his successor. The younger Kim is believed to have accompanied his father.

Kim’s visit came just days after the “desperate” North expressed its willingness to return to the six-party talks.

Kim’s special train crossed the border around midnight Wednesday toward the northeastern Chinese border city of Jian, a Cheong Wa Dae official said on condition of anonymity. If confirmed, it would be his second trip to the country this year.

“We assume that Kim was aboard the train,” the official said. “There have been indications over the past few days suggesting a visit to China.”

Neither Beijing nor Pyongyang has confirmed his trip yet. However, sources said Kim arrived in Jilin Thursday afternoon and paid a visit to a middle school that his father and national founder Kim Il-sung attended for two years, as well as a memorial park symbolic of the anti-Japanese movement during its colonial occupation of Korea.

Kim’s trip came as a surprise because he was expected to meet with former U.S. President Jimmy Carter the same day.

Carter arrived in Pyongyang to seek the release of Aijalon Mahli Gomes, an American citizen who was imprisoned for illegally entering the communist state.

South Korea’s cable network YTN reported that the former U.S. president had extended his North Korean visit until Friday in an apparent bid to meet Kim.

Kim left for China on the same day that Chinese chief nuclear envoy Wu Dawei arrived in Seoul to discuss the resumption of the six-party denuclearization talks.

Seoul expressed hopes of hearing about the latest situation in the North from the Chinese envoy as he visited the reclusive country last week.

The Chinese envoy’s meeting with North Korean officials came weeks before Washington is scheduled to unveil a set of country-specific sanctions on the North later this month.

The leadership succession of the younger Kim, who is in his late twenties, is underway as Kim Jong-il’s health is reportedly deteriorating and the regime has revealed limitations in controlling its population after a failed currency reform.

In addition, North Korea watchers here said the negative fallout of devastating floods, which hit the impoverished nation last week, made it even more challenging for the North to provide relief.

Cheong Seong-chang, a senior fellow at the Sejong Institute, said North Korea was badly affected by the recent floods.

Sinuiju, a northern city sharing the border with China, was reportedly ripped apart by torrential rain, leading North Korea to request emergency aid from the U.N.

“The North Korean leader might have calculated that the deadly floods were likely to lead to social unrest there,” he said.

Pyongyang is scheduled to hold a Workers’ Party meeting in September, where Kim is expected to let his third son, Jong-un, assume a key post that will lead to his accession to the leadership of the country.

김정일, 갑작스런 중국 방문

김정일 국방위원장이 목요일 아침 전용열차로 중국과 인접한 국경을 넘은 것으로 알려졌다. 이번 방문의 사실로 확인될 경우, 김 위원장은 불과 3개월만의 중국 재방문이 된다. 이는 카터 전 대통령의 방북 시기와 맞물리면서 화제를 낳고 있다. YTN 보도에 따르면 곰즈 석방 문제로 방북한 카터 전 대통령은 김 위원장과의 면담을 위해 일정을 하루 연장 금요일까지 평양에 머무르는 것으로 알려졌다.

김영선 외교통상부 대변인은 이 같은 보도에 대해서 정확한 입장을 밝힐 수는 없으나 정부는 정확한 행선지와 목적을 파악하기 위해 노력을 기울이고 있다고 신중한 태도를 취했다.

김정일의 방중은 이번이 2000년 이후 여섯 번째로, 올해만 두 번째다. 마지막 방문은 지난 5월로, 2006년 이후 4년 만이었다. 이번 방북 일자는 6자 회담 재개 분위기 조성을 위해 중국의 우다웨이 한반도업무 특별대사가 방한한 날짜와 같다. 정부관계자는 지난 주 북한을 방문한 대사로부터 북측의 입장과 정황을 조금 더 정확하게 알 수 있길 기대하고 있다.

정성창 세종연구소 남북관계연구실장은 방중보도에 대해 신의주를 포함한 북한지역에 수해피해 와 식량지원을 요청하기 위한 것으로 보고 있다고 밝혔다. “다음달 초 열릴 노동당 대표자 회의를 성황리에 열기 위해서는 식량공급을 정상화해야 한다고 판단한 것”이라고 본다고 덧붙였다.

9월 초 열릴 대표자 회의에서는 김정운을 요직에 임명함으로써 후계자 지명의 수순을 밟지 않겠느냐는 전망이 유력하다.