N. Korean leader tours industrial facilities in China

BEIJING/CHANGCHUN/MANZHOULI, China (Yonhap) -- North Korean leader Kim Jong-il toured industrial facilities in northeastern China on Friday on his way back home from a trip to Russia, a source said.

   Kim visited the facilities in the Chinese city of Qiqihar, a hub of automobile industries, and Daqing, home to China's largest oilfield, the source said.
   
In Daqing, he was observed on a tour of a new residential district and an oilfield museum in the city's downtown area, said the source who requested anonymity.

   After the tour, the North Korean leader met with Chinese State Councilor Dai Bingguo, according to China's state-run Xinhua news agency.

   The meeting is believed to have been held at a state guest house in the city where the leader was expected to spend a night, but Xinhua gave no further information except that the meeting took place in the Heilongjiang Province where the two cities are located.

   During the talks, Kim told the Chinese official that North Korea wants the six-party talks to be opened without any pre-conditions attached, the news agency reported.

   In the eastern Siberian city of Ulan-Ude earlier this week, the 68-year-old North Korean leader met with Russian President Dmitry Medvedev for discussions on a wide range of topics, including economic cooperation and the stalled six-party nuclear disarmament forum.

   At the summit, Kim expressed his willingness to return to the stalled six-party talks on his country's nuclear weapons programs and to impose a moratorium on tests and the production of nuclear weapons if the multilateral forum re-opens.

   Kim and Medvedev agreed to set up a joint committee to discuss plans to pipe Siberian natural gas to South Korea via North Korea.

   On his trip back home by train, Kim sent a message of thanks to Medvedev, expressing hope that friendly ties between the two countries will continue to strengthen, the North's Korean Central News Agency said in a report Friday.

   On Thursday, Kim stopped in the Chinese border city of Manzhouli where he was greeted by senior Chinese Communist Party envoy Wang Jiarui. Kim made an official visit to China in May, during which he met President Hu Jintao in Beijing.

   China has become the North's last remaining ally and key economic benefactor as Russia influence's waned following the folding of the Soviet Union two decades ago.

   China hopes North Korea will follow in its footsteps in embracing the reforms that lifted millions of Chinese out of poverty and helped the country become the world's second-largest economy.

   The North vows to build a prosperous and powerful nation by next year, though the prospect has been dimmed by its chronic food shortages.

   The North has relied on international handouts since the late 1990s to help feed its 24 million people.