By Kang Hyun-kyung
North Korean leader Kim Jong-il paid a visit to an unspecified Chinese firm based in the business district of Yangzhou on the fourth day of his trip to China, Monday.
The move came amid reports that the North Korean leader has focused on exploring business and infrastructure facilities in northeastern and southern China.
Kim reportedly left his hotel early in the morning for the trip to the local company.
Yangzhou’s business cluster houses energy and wind power firms, and medical and health products manufacturers.
Kim returned to the hotel before noon.
He is expected to visit historic sites in the afternoon, tracing his father’s footsteps when the late Kim Il-sung visited the city in the 1990s.
North Korea watchers here speculated that the ailing North Korean leader might have a reunion with the former Chinese leader Jiang Zemin who met his father when the late Kim visited Yangzhou, the former’s hometown.
Kim Il-sung and Jiang travelled together to several tourism destinations in the city in the 1990s.
Kim Jong-il is expected to stay in Yangzhou for two or three more days. Then his special train is likely to go to Shanghai, a prospering international business hub.
Analysts say there is a possibility that Kim will hold a summit with Chinese President Hu Jintao in Shanghai.
His itinerary shows that Kim Jong-il is stepping up efforts to learn lessons from his neighbor’s fast-growing economy.
The move is in line with Chinese Prime Minister Wen Jiabao’s remarks made at the summit with President Lee Myung-bak held on the sidelines of a tripartite summit in Japan.
Wen said Sunday that China invited the North Korean leader to visit to help him better understand China’s reforms and take lessons from them.
Yonhap reported Monday that North Korea agreed with China to launch a pilot development project in Raseon and on Hwanggeumpyeong Island in the northwestern region near the border with the North’s closest ally.
The two sides will team up to transform the district into a resilient industrial belt where a market economy will rule business practices.
Under the plan, six major industries, including raw material high-tech business, will be set up in Raseon. Previously, North Korea designated it as the country’s first free economic zone.