Tokyo - North Korean leader Kim Jong Il's third son, Kim
Jong Un, made a secret visit to Beijing last week to inform Chinese
leaders that his father had chosen him as his successor, a leading
Japanese daily said Tuesday.
The younger Kim confirmed to Chinese President Hu Jintao that Kim
Jong Il wanted him to take over as North Korea's supreme leader,
Japan's Asahi Shimbun quoted Chinese and North Korean sources as
saying.
China's Foreign Ministry said it could not comment on the reported
visit which, if it took place, would have been organized between the
Chinese Communist Party and the Korean Workers' Party.
'We are not aware of the relevant information,' Foreign Ministry
spokesman Qin Gang told reporters when asked about the reported
visit.
One Beijing-based diplomat specializing in relations between China
and North Korea expressed scepticism at the report, while a Chinese
scholar played down the significance of any visit by Kim Jong Un.
South Korean politicians and media reported last week that the
Korean Workers' Party was already promoting Kim Jong Un as the chosen
successor, following months of speculation after reports that Kim
Jong Il, 67, suffered a stroke last year.
The Asahi Shimbun said Hu had urged Kim Jong Un, who travelled as
his father's special envoy, to cancel North Korea's plan to conduct a
third nuclear test.
China also urged North Korea to return to the six-nation talks on
ending its nuclear programme, the report said.
It said Kim Jong Un, believed to be only 26, also met Wang
Jiarui, head of the Communist Party's international liaison
department.
Yu Yingli of the Shanghai Institute for International Studies said
that if Kim Jong Un had visited China it was 'still a weak sign' of
succession.
'All the signs from different channels show that Kim Jong Un will
probably be the heir of Kim Jong Il, but it is still an assumption
because this should be recognized by the official side in North
Korea,' Yu told the German Press Agency dpa.
'If North Korean media begin a propaganda campaign of Kim Jong
Un's story, to depict him as a hero, then it will be a sign (of his
succession),' she said.
But North Korean sources said the Stalinist state was trying to
seek its ally's understanding by having the son make the first
diplomatic visit on behalf of his father, according to the Japanese
media report.
Since Kim Jong Il suffered a stroke, 'it is not physically
appropriate (for him) to make an extended visit,' North Korean
sources were quoted as saying.
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