Kim Jong-un rumoured to have caught train to China
A “HIGH-RANKING” North Korean official, who some reports say could be Kim Jong-un, has arrived by train in Beijing amid Japanese media claims that the North Korean leader was visiting the Chinese capital.
Bloomberg said yesterday that Kim had arrived in the city, citing three unnamed sources, in what would be his first known overseas trip since taking power in 2011 and ahead of a potential summit with Donald Trump.
Kyodo, citing sources close to the matter, said the visit of the official was intended to improve ties between Beijing and Pyongyang that have been frayed by North Korea’s pursuit of nuclear weapons and China’s backing of tough sanctions against North Korea at the United Nations Security Council.
Footage from Nippon News Network, owned by Nippon TV, showed what an announcer described as a green train carriage with yellow horizontal lines, part of a 21-car train, similar to the kind that Kim’s late father, Kim Jong Il, rode when he visited Beijing in 2011.
Beijing has been North Korea’s closest ally, but Kim is due to hold summit meetings separately with its rivals South Korea and the US.
Asked earlier about reports of an important North Korean visitor arriving at the Chinese border city of Dandong, Hua Chunying, the Chinese foreign ministry spokesman, said she was unaware of the situation. A source with ties to the Chinese military told Reuters it was “not possible to rule out the possibility” that Kim was visiting, but cautioned this was not confirmed.