BEIJING/SEOUL -- Beijing remained under tight security on Tuesday as a special train believed to have been carrying a high-ranking North Korean official arrived in the Chinese capital on the previous day.
As of Tuesday noon, both China and North Korea had yet to officially announce the visit. As the relationship between the two countries appears to have become strained, attention has been focused on issues such as how the administration of Chinese President Xi Jinping would respond.
If true, the visit to China by a high-level North Korean official possibly indicates that Pyongyang has stepped up efforts to improve relations with the Xi administration, ahead of an inter-Korean summit meeting in April and U.S.-North Korea summit talks scheduled to be held by the end of May.
U.S. news agency Bloomberg has reported that the official believed to be visiting China is Kim Jong Un, chairman of the Workers' Party of Korea, citing information from three people with knowledge of the visit.
A North Korean source in Beijing told The Yomiuri Shimbun, "It has been concluded that the visiting official is Kim Jong Un."
However, some sources close to the South Korean government have speculated that the official could be the North Korean leader's sister Kim Yo Jong.
In Beijing, security vehicles filled the area near the main entrance of the Diaoyutai State Guesthouse, where foreign dignities often stay on visits to the capital, from early Tuesday morning, with many police officers on high alert. The security level appears to be at its highest, the level taken when heads of states and equivalent figures visit the country.
At about 9:30 a.m., a convoy of vehicles, including one believed to have been carrying the North Korean official, was confirmed to have departed the state guesthouse. There have been reports that the convoy headed to Zhongguancun, a hub of high-tech companies.
Hong Kong's Ming Pao newspaper reported that the high-ranking North Korean official held talks with the "Chinese leader" at the Great Hall of the People on Monday afternoon. It remains unknown whether talks were also held on Tuesday.
Kim Jong Un is not believed to have previously traveled abroad since he became the de facto leader following the death of his father Kim Jong Il in December 2011.
Kim Jong Il visited China in May 2011, and in August that year, he traveled to China and Russia by train. When former North Korean leaders visited neighboring countries, it was always by train.
Regulations on the internet have also become stricter. Chinese media has been banned from reporting the visit, while users of Weibo, China's equivalent of Twitter, have been unable to see results of search queries that include the word "Korea."
Read more from The Japan News at https://japannews.yomiuri.co.jp/
