CHANGCHUN, China North Korean dictator Kim Jong Il was said to be traveling with his youngest son on a rare trip to China on Friday, re-igniting speculation the younger Kim will take over the reigns of the reclusive communist nation in coming years.
The highly unusual visit to China was Kims second in three months and its timing even more odd because it came as former President Jimmy Carter was in North Korea to win the release of an imprisoned American. Carter and 31-year-old Aijalon Gomes, sentenced to eight years of hard labor and fined $600,000 for entering the country illegally, left Pyongyang on Friday morning.
South Korean media and regional analysts speculated Kim may be seeking Chinese aid following flooding in his impoverished countrys northwest and was seeking support from his closest diplomatic ally for the succession of his son, Kim Jong Un.
Choi Jae-sung, an opposition lawmaker in South Koreas parliamentary intelligence committee, told AP that Kim Jong Un � the North Korean leaders third and youngest son � accompanied his father, citing unidentified sources.
Choi said Kim Jong Il had breakfast with a member of the Chinas powerful Politburo Standing Committee in his hotel in Jilin, where he apparently spent the night.
Kims trip has not been announced by either country. His travels are typically not publicized by North Korea until after his return, although his stop in Jilin was confirmed by two teachers at the Yuwen Middle School, a school Kims father once attended that carries historic and patriotic significance for North Koreans.
Kim Il Sung attended the school from 1927 to 1930 after his family fled the Japanese occupation of Korea. Kim biographies say he began absorbing communist ideology while at Yuwen, making it a pilgrimage site for North Koreans seeking to pay homage to the one-time anti-Japanese guerrilla fighter-turned-president.
Such a visit just days before the 100th anniversary of Japans colonization of Korea carries symbolic weight as well. North Korea tends to play up the Kim familys patriotism during succession campaigns.
Many North Korea watchers predict the son will be appointed to a key party position at a rare ruling Workers Party meeting early next month.
It is not known whom Kim was to meet on this trip, although someone of his stature would likely hold talks with a senior leader.
For its part, China is certain to use Kims visit as an opportunity to prod North Korea toward rejoining international talks aimed at nuclear disarmament.
China has hosted the six-nation talks since 2002 but North Korea walked away from them last year in protest over the international condemnation that followed its testing of a long-range missile. Prospects for restarting negotiations were undermined further after a South Korean warship sank in March, killing 46 sailors. Seoul and Washington accuse North Korea of torpedoing the vessel, while the North denies involvement and has threatened harsh retaliation if punished.
Meanwhile, Carter left North Korea on Friday after a three-day private mission to negotiate Gomes release. North Korean state media said Kim granted a special pardon after the former president "courteously requested" it. Gomes motive for entering North Korea was not clear.
There was no indication Carter met Kim, who sat down for talks and a well-publicized photo with former President Bill Clinton a year ago. Clinton was on a similar journey to negotiate the release of two American journalists.
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Associated Press writers Jean H. Lee and Kwang-tae Kim in Seoul contributed to this report.
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