North Korean leader Kim Jong-Il Friday extended his tour of northeastern China on a trip seeking Beijing's blessing for a succession of power to his son, media reports said Friday.
The reports came as former US president Jimmy Carter ended his mission to North Korea and a top Pyongyang official meeting him expressed willingness to resume six-party talks on the North's nuclear disarmament.
Carter, who headed home Friday, has also secured the release of a US citizen jailed in the North for entering the communist state illegally, reports said.
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After an overnight stay, Kim left Jilin City on Friday morning, media reports said.
On the first day of the secretive trip, he made a pilgrimage to historic sites in Jilin which bear footmarks of his late father and founder of North Korea, Kim Il-Sung.
A 30-vehicle convoy believed to be carrying the reclusive leader was seen leaving a hotel in Jilin and heading to a railway station where Kim's personal train was standing by, Yonhap news agency said.
Police provided an escort for the convoy of limousines and minibuses. Security around the station was heavy, with armed policemen blocking ordinary people and vehicles from accessing the facility.
It was unclear where exactly Kim is headed. But a source in Beijing said the next destination appears to be the nearby city of Changchun, about a one-hour drive from Jilin, Yonhap said.
YTN TV said the convoy took a highway that leads to Changchun, where Kim is likely to meet Chinese officials and inspect industrial facilities.
On Thursday, Kim paid a visit to Jilin's Yuwen Middle School, which his father and the North's founder, Kim Il-Sung, attended for two-and-a-half years from 1927.
Kim Jong-Il also visited Beishan Park where the remains of anti-Japanese independence fighters are buried.
An official with the North Korean embassy said he had "no information" about Kim's reported visit as the Chinese foreign ministry had no immediate comment.
Beijing railways officials said they were "not aware" if a special North Korean train had arrived.
An official at the Shangri-La Hotel in Changchun who asked not to be named told AFP that the hotel was full as a "big tour group" had made bookings, but did not have any details about the guests involved.
An official of the presidential Blue House said Kim's China trip was apparently aimed at paving the way for an eventual power transfer to Kim Jong-Un, his youngest son and heir apparent.
"The most important issue for the North is succession," the official was quoted as saying by Yonhap news agency.
Speculation about the succession has intensified since Kim Jong-Il, now 68, suffered a stroke in August 2008. But he has since recovered sufficiently to work.
Yonhap said Kim might be accompanied in northeastern China by his son, who is widely expected to be named to the North Korean communist leadership at a party meeting early next month.
It will be only the third such gathering since the communist state was founded in 1948 and is seen as the most important party event since 1980, when Kim Jong-Il was designated to succeed his own father.
"It's not clear whether (Kim) will travel through to Beijing," said Professor Yang Moo-Jin, of the University of North Korean Studies in Seoul, adding that Kim's talks with Beijing officials could take place in northeastern China.
"Through such talks, China is likely to urge Pyongyang to return to six-party nuclear disarmament process, stop operating its nuclear facilities in Yongbyon and accept inspectors from the International Atomic Energy Agency.
"In return, Beijing will probably express support to a third generation succession in the North," Yang told AFP.
Chung Seong-Chang, of South Korea's Sejong Institute, said Kim's visit underscored Pyongyang's desperate need for food aid and construction materials from China.
