North Korean leader arrives in Chinese city: TV

SEOUL: North Korean leader Kim Jong-II reportedly arrived in the Chinese city of Changchun on Saturday on the second day of a secretive trip with his isolated state in desperate need of economic aid.

Experts said the visit, the third by Kim in 12 months, reflects the North's dire need for help from its main benefactor to ease economic difficulties and food shortages amid ongoing international sanctions over its nuclear ambitions.

They also say it shows he is firmly in charge despite health concerns. Kim, 69, suffered a stroke in August 2008 and has since been putting in place a succession plan involving his youngest son and heir apparent Kim Jong-Un.

Kim Jong-Il's special train, which left Mudanjiang City in Heilongjiang Province late Friday, was seen pulling into the railway station in Changchun, capital of northeastern Jilin Province, on Saturday morning, YTN TV said.

During his last visit in August 2010, Kim held a summit with Chinese President Hu Jintao in the economic hub of Changchun. Hu urged him to open up the North's state-directed economy.

Security was tightened at the Changchun railway station and there was also a large police presence along the street from the station to a luxury hotel in the city, the reports said. Kim stayed at the hotel during his last visit.

News reports in Seoul said Kim was apparently not accompanied by Kim Jong-Un. A hotel list of Kim's 70-member entourage did not show the son's name.

The frequent trips to China by the reclusive leader "underscores the North's desperate need" for aid from China, Professor Cho Young-Ki of Korea University told the Chosun daily.

The North's two-way trade with China rose 32 percent last year to $3.47 billion, after South Korea severed most trade ties in protest at border attacks blamed on its neighbour.

In the first three months to March, North Korea's exports to China surged three times to $410 million, Chosun said.

The communist regime in North Korea is desperate to improve living standards and revive the economy before the 100th anniversary next year of the birth of founding president Kim Il-Sung, the current leader's father.

UN agencies said six million people a quarter of the population need urgent aid in the North, where a famine in the 1990s killed hundreds of thousands.

Samaritan's Purse, one of five US groups that visited North Korea in February, said a harsh winter had reduced crop yields by up to half and some people were eating grass, leaves and tree bark to survive.

The United States said Friday it would send a team to Pyongyang in the coming week to evaluate a request for food aid from the hungry state.

Professor Kim Yong-Hyun of Dongguk University said the trip, along with his active schedule of inspection visits at home, corroborated the belief that Kim's health had improved.

"Through this visit, he is showing off his health and tight grip on power," Kim told the Hankyoreh Daily.

Kim Jong-Un, believed aged 27, was made a four star general last September and given major posts in the ruling communist party to confirm his status as leader-in-waiting.

Previous trips by Kim Jong-Il to China have been shrouded in secrecy, with state controlled media in both countries reporting them only after they end.