N.K. leader visits industrial complex in China

BEIJING/YANGZHOU (Yonhap News) -- North Korean leader Kim Jong-il visited an economic development zone and a discount store in the eastern city of Yangzhou on Monday in a trip apparently designed to study China's economic reform, a source said.

After his two separate outings, Kim appeared to have dinner with former Chinese President Jiang Zemin, the source said.

"I understand there was a dinner combined with a performance by the Chinese Jiangsu Province Art Troupe tonight, attended by Kim and Jiang," the source said.

Chinese Vice President Xi Jinping, widely tipped as China's next leader, seems not to be accompanying Kim during his itineraries in Yangzhou, which is different from media speculation.

China's official Xinhua news agency reported that Xi met with former Singaporean Prime Minister Lee Kuan Yew in Beijing on Monday, indicating the Chinese leader may have left Yangzhou in the morning or may have not visited the eastern Chinese city to greet the Pyongyang leader.

Kim's meeting with Jiang, if confirmed, may be part of Kim's efforts to broaden Chinese endorsement of his plan to extend his family dynasty into a third generation, considering that Jiang is still believed to wield considerable clout.

North Korea's founder Kim Il-sung met with Jiang in Yangzhou in 1991.

Kim Jong-il named his youngest son, Jong-un, vice chairman of the Central Military Commission of the North's ruling Workers'

Party and a four-star general last year in the clearest sign yet to making him the next North Korean leader.

Though China has indicated that it would support the power succession plan, there could be some voices inside China against patronizing a dynastic power transfer in a country with nuclear ambitions.

Kim reached this eastern city, west of Shanghai, by train on Sunday on his third trip to China, the North's last remaining ally, in just over a year.

Though details of Kim's itinerary remain sketchy, a special train that carried him to Yangzhou is not at the city's train station, triggering speculation that the North's leader may travel to another city, possibly Shanghai.

Kim last visited Shanghai in 2001 and marveled at its development.

Chinese Premier Wen Jiabao said Sunday in Tokyo that Beijing invited Kim in an effort to help Pyongyang learn about Chinese economic development and use it for reviving the North's economy.