CHINA/SOUTH KOREA: South Korean media say North Korean leader Kim Jong-il and his son and heir are on a visit to China

Record ID: 872618

  • Title: CHINA/SOUTH KOREA: South Korean media say North Korean leader Kim Jong-il and his son and heir are on a visit to China
  • Date: 27th August 2010
  • Summary: BEIJING, CHINA (FILE - MAY 2010) (REUTERS) EXTERIOR OF NORTH KOREAN EMBASSY NORTH KOREAN NATIONAL FLAG FLYING SOLDIERS WALKING PAST OUTSIDE OF NORTH KOREAN EMBASSY SIGN WITH KOREAN CHARACTERS ON BANNERS ON NORTH KOREAN EMBASSY BUILDING SOLDIERS WALKING PAST OUTSIDE OF NORTH KOREAN EMBASSY
  • Embargoed: 11th September 2010 13:00
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  • Topics: Communications,International Relations
  • Reuters ID: LVA9KDVNR9F1CY9GVZDSSAYISXEY
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  • Story Text: North Korea's leader Kim Jong-il and his youngest son and heir apparent made a surprise visit to China on Thursday (August 26) morning, South Korean media reported.
    The purpose and timing of his visit was not immediately clear.
    Kim, who suffered a stroke in 2008, last visited China in May when he met Chinese President Hu Jintao.
    South Korea's YTN television cited a presidential source as saying Kim was accompanied by his youngest son Kim Jong-un.
    "It has been confirmed that Chairman of National Military Commission Kim Jong-il visited China early this morning. And he was accompanied by Kim Jong-un, his heir apparent," said a YTN news reader.
    Residents in Seoul expressed concern over the power succession within the North's Kim family.
    "I do not understand it from the beginning. Can anybody in this age understand the power succession without taking care of people's lives or welfare? I do not think so," said 55-year-old Lee Yong-hwan.
    Kim Jong-il's father Kim Il-sung founded North Korea in 1948
    "If the power succession takes place, the system will be maintained. So the unification of the Korean peninsula will be almost impossible," said another resident 33-year-old Park Min- woo.
    China's Foreign Ministry made no immediate comment on Kim's reported visit, nor did its counterpart in Seoul.
    Hidden from even the North Korean public, Kim Jong-un, the youngest son of leader Kim Jong-il, has for months been the focus of discussions about who might next lead the impoverished state.
    South Korean media reported that Jong-un was accompanying his father to China ahead of a rare meeting next month of the North Korea's Workers' Party, which rubber stamps major policy decisions.
    The meeting, the first of its kind in more than 40 years, is expected to elect a new leadership, likely giving the junior Kim an official party role and formally initiate the grooming for succession.
    Swiss-educated Jong-un, thought to be 26 and whose name in Chinese characters translates as "righteous cloud", is the youngest of Kim's three known sons.
    He is thought to speak English and German, and bear a striking resemblance to his father.
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