Kim’s quiet trip to China

Japan’s Kyodo News has some good detail on Kim Jong Il’s hush-hush train trip to China as well as some rare unstaged photos of the reculsive leader, who looks a lot more haggard than he does in all those inspection tour images. Kim was seen today at a hotel in city of Dalian, near the ...

By , a former associate editor at Foreign Policy.

Japan's Kyodo News has some good detail on Kim Jong Il's hush-hush train trip to China as well as some rare unstaged photos of the reculsive leader, who looks a lot more haggard than he does in all those inspection tour images.

Japan’s Kyodo News has some good detail on Kim Jong Il’s hush-hush train trip to China as well as some rare unstaged photos of the reculsive leader, who looks a lot more haggard than he does in all those inspection tour images.

Kim was seen today at a hotel in city of Dalian, near the Korean border, where he arrived by train and is later thought to have traveled to Beijing by car :

 Highways linking Dalian to Shenyang and Beijing were blocked Monday afternoon, apparently to strengthen security for travels by Kim and his party.

While in Dalian, Kim’s party is thought to have inspected a company or companies investing in North Korea.

The international train terminal at Dandong Station in Liaoning Province had been closed until around 5 a.m. Police deployed about 30 vehicles around the station and enforced tight security measures.

Yonhap reported the 17-carriage train arrived in Dandong around 5:20 a.m. All regular passenger trains from North Korea to Dandong arrive in the afternoon and usually have only four or five coaches, it said.

Kim is known to use trains when traveling abroad.

Dandong hotels where customers can see a steel bridge linking the two countries did not accept guests. The hotels, which are observation posts for trains traveling between the two countries, locked their entrance doors. 

North Korea’s official Korean Central News Agency has made no mention of the trip, though it is currently carrying an item on North Korean no. 2 Kim Yong Nam meeting with Chinese President Hu Jintao last Friday. Also no word on whether presumed heir-to-the-throne Kim Jong Un accompanied his dad on this trip. 

Joshua Keating was an associate editor at Foreign Policy. Twitter: @joshuakeating

More from Foreign Policy

Russian President Vladimir Putin and Chinese President Xi Jinping give a toast during a reception following their talks at the Kremlin in Moscow on March 21.
Russian President Vladimir Putin and Chinese President Xi Jinping give a toast during a reception following their talks at the Kremlin in Moscow on March 21.

Can Russia Get Used to Being China’s Little Brother?

The power dynamic between Beijing and Moscow has switched dramatically.

Xi and Putin shake hands while carrying red folders.
Xi and Putin shake hands while carrying red folders.

Xi and Putin Have the Most Consequential Undeclared Alliance in the World

It’s become more important than Washington’s official alliances today.

Russian President Vladimir Putin greets Kazakh President Kassym-Jomart Tokayev.
Russian President Vladimir Putin greets Kazakh President Kassym-Jomart Tokayev.

It’s a New Great Game. Again.

Across Central Asia, Russia’s brand is tainted by Ukraine, China’s got challenges, and Washington senses another opening.

Kurdish military officers take part in a graduation ceremony in Erbil, the capital of Iraq’s Kurdistan Region, on Jan. 15.
Kurdish military officers take part in a graduation ceremony in Erbil, the capital of Iraq’s Kurdistan Region, on Jan. 15.

Iraqi Kurdistan’s House of Cards Is Collapsing

The region once seemed a bright spot in the disorder unleashed by U.S. regime change. Today, things look bleak.