N. Korea's leader in Beijing for rare, secretive talks

Reclusive North Korean leader Kim Jong-il arrived unannounced in Beijing yesterday and went straight into talks on his nuclear weapons ambitions after Washington urged Beijing to push to end the crisis.

Kim, whose special train drew into Beijing after an overnight journey from Pyongyang, will be in China for up to four days, during which he expects to meet his counterpart, military chief Jiang Zemin, and do some sightseeing, said a Chinese source familiar with the talks.

He met President and Communist Party chief Hu Jintao for lunch in the high-walled Zhongnanhai leaders' compound and for talks dominated by the nuclear crisis and the North's economic and food problems, South Korea's Yonhap news agency said.

Kim was likely to tour a Beijing high-tech zone dubbed "China's Silicon Valley", it said.

Solving the nuclear issue is key to unlocking outside aid to the ailing and isolated North Korean economy, including from China, the North's closest friend.

Kim's trip, cloaked in the secrecy that traditionally surrounds his rare overseas journeys, comes less than a week after US Vice President Dick Cheney warned in Beijing that time was running out to resolve the crisis over Pyongyang's nuclear ambitions that has gripped North Asia since late 2002.

China's leaders are likely to dangle the prospect of economic help while repeating that they oppose a nuclear-armed Pyongyang and insist on a peaceful resolution to a problem that has enraged Washington and triggered nervousness among neighbours.

"Putting pressure on North Korea isn't a good way to do things," said Korea expert Piao Jianyi with the Chinese Academy of Social Sciences. "But we have emphasised all along that the North Korean nuclear issue should be resolved peacefully."

Kim's first visit to China in three years was expected to last about four days. His previous two trips were not publicised until after he left.

Chinese officials declined formally to confirm the visit but a second source said Kim had originally been scheduled to visit last week.

"The arrangements are being kept secret," he said. "He was supposed to have arrived last week. But it was delayed because things had not been sorted out."

Cheney was in Beijing last Tuesday and Wednesday. And Thursday marked the 92nd anniversary of the birth of Kim's father, North Korea's late founder Kim Il-sung.

The first sign of his arrival was a convoy of unmarked cars, including a black Mercedes limousine, that pulled out of Beijing's main railway station. The station was guarded by military police and an official said it was closed for the arrival of a special visitor, whose identity was a secret.

Kim's entourage included 40 high-level ruling party, state and military officials in a trip aimed to shore up ties, South Korean state broadcaster KBS said. Kim, who avoids travel by plane, was also seeking economic aid and might tour the northeastern city of Shenyang or Dalian, Yonhap said.

Kim is also to meet Premier Wen Jiabao, who is at the helm of China's booming economy, and former president and Communist Party chief Jiang Zemin, KBS said. Jiang and Kim both command the military in their respective countries.

In 2001, the leader of the communist North toured Shanghai and was reportedly impressed with the glitz of China's financial hub. He later began to experiment with market reforms.

"The backdrop of the Kim Jong-il trip is that North Korea is in a situation where it has to resolve the nuclear issue before there can be progress on the economic front," said Koh Yoo-hwan, Dongguk University professor on North Korea studies.

The United States is key. Cheney came to China last week armed with fresh evidence of the North's nuclear weapons capabilities and pressing Beijing to take a firmer line with its communist neighbour.

China has played host at two rounds of inconclusive six-party talks with the two Koreas, the United States, Japan and Russia aimed at ending the crisis. A third round is planned before July.

Regional tensions have simmered since October 2002, when US officials say Pyongyang disclosed it was working on a clandestine programme to enrich uranium - in addition to a plutonium-based programme that had been mothballed in 1994.