China Denies Knowledge of Visit by Top N. Korean Official
Extra-tight security continued to be enforced in Beijing on Tuesday, after a train that might have carried a high-ranking North Korean official arrived the previous day.
It would be Mr Kim's first foreign visit since taking office in 2011.
The news also accompanied reports of increasing Chinese government censorship of reports on the mystery visitor, and of an unconfirmed convoy of official vehicles seen in central Beijing.
A CNN team saw a motorcade arriving at Beijing Station on Tuesday afternoon and Japan's Kyodo news agency reported that the distinctive green, armored train had left the Chinese capital, presumably bound for Pyongyang.
The circumstances surrounding the North Korean leader's apparent trip to Beijing are murky, including which side initiated talks and what was discussed.
The episode is still fresh in the minds of both North Korean leader Kim Jong Un and John Bolton, the new US national security adviser.
A senior U.S. official who follows North Korea closely said the available evidence suggested that Kim had travelled to Beijing to meet Chinese President Xi Jinping, but stressed that has not been confirmed.
Besides concerns for Kim and his family's personal safety, the hushed meeting suggests North Korea has enough leverage with China to have them keep the trip quiet, and enough finesse to orchestrate a massive move like this without alerting South Korea.
Bolton has repeatedly made the case for a preemptive attack targeting specific nuclear sites, most recently in a Wall Street Journal op-ed on March 1 titled "The Legal Case for Striking North Korea First".
"If North Korea speaks with the United States on its own, it might feel it is at a disadvantage but, if it has China as an ally, Pyongyang may think it will be able to protect its interests and profits during the summits".
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"North Korea wants to have some insurance against this upcoming summit meeting with President Trump. the meeting is very important but also very risky", he said. "If the meeting fails the U.S. could declare that diplomacy has failed and shift to a more coercive approach or even a military strike".
Some analysts had suggested China - the North's only major ally - had been sidelined by Pyongyang's approaches to Seoul and Washington, but a visit by Kim would put Beijing firmly back at the centre of the diplomatic scrum.
"One source with ties to China's leadership said it was possible Kim's younger sister, Kim Yo Jong, was in town".
The US has no advance knowledge of Kim's Visit.
"Numerous other senior officials could and would have taken a private plane, possibly departing without any fanfare in Pyongyang and arranging to establish an unobtrusive arrival with the Chinese authorities", Madden said.
The carriages used by both late leaders are now on display at the Kumsusan Memorial Palace in Pyongyang, where their bodies lie in state - and a Macintosh computer stands on Kim Jong Il's desk.
For security reasons, three identical trains were deployed for every overseas trip by Kim Jong Il and Kim Il Sung, the current leader's grandfather, news reports in Seoul said.
The fact that nobody is talking is particularly striking given the timing; the train arrived in the run-up to Kim's summit with South Korean President Moon Jae-in in late April and his possible meeting with President Donald Trump in May.
Kim Jong Un's surprise agreement earlier in the month, too, to meet with U.S. President Donald Trump "by May", hinted at China's increasing isolation on the North Korean issue.
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