A motorcade believed to be carrying North Korean leader Kim Jong-il arrived at Beijing's state guesthouse yesterday, South Korean media reported, the latest sighting of a man whose whereabouts remain a mystery.
The 30-car convoy arrived at the Diaoyutai Guesthouse in Beijing at about 8:30am, a diplomatic source told South Korea's Yonhap news agency on condition of anonymity.
Kim was expected to meet with President Hu Jintao (
The Chinese Foreign Ministry said it had no information on Kim's reported visit. In the past China has released details of Kim's travels only after he has returned to his country.
Kim, who rarely ventures abroad, is believed to have crossed into China a week ago.
It was his first known trip to his regime's only major ally since 2004. He also made a pair of visits to China in 2001.
Foreign news reports stated that Kim spent nearly a week in the heart of China's booming south, touring high-tech companies in a possible search for ideas to revive his country's laggard economy.
A Japanese TV network showed what it said was Kim on a river cruise in Guangdong Province.
Another Japanese broadcaster, Nippon TV, showed a figure with Kim's distinctive hairstyle getting into a limousine outside the provincial capital's White Swan hotel.
Meqnwhile, on Monday, pro-Beijing newspapers in Hong Kong said Kim's armored train was carrying him to the Chinese capital to meet Hu.
The US has urged Beijing to use its influence to convince Pyongyang to return to the six-party talks.
International talks on the North's nuclear ambitions have been stalled since November, with Pyongyang accusing the United States of a hostile attitude.
The talks also include Russia, Japan and South Korea.
Four people jailed in the landmark Hong Kong national security trial of "47 democrats" accused of conspiracy to commit subversion were freed today after more than four years behind bars, the second group to be released in a month. Among those freed was long-time political and LGBTQ activist Jimmy Sham (岑子杰), who also led one of Hong Kong’s largest pro-democracy groups, the Civil Human Rights Front, which disbanded in 2021. "Let me spend some time with my family," Sham said after arriving at his home in the Kowloon district of Jordan. "I don’t know how to plan ahead because, to me, it feels
The collapse of the Swiss Birch glacier serves as a chilling warning of the escalating dangers faced by communities worldwide living under the shadow of fragile ice, particularly in Asia, experts said. Footage of the collapse on Wednesday showed a huge cloud of ice and rubble hurtling down the mountainside into the hamlet of Blatten. Swiss Development Cooperation disaster risk reduction adviser Ali Neumann said that while the role of climate change in the case of Blatten “still needs to be investigated,” the wider impacts were clear on the cryosphere — the part of the world covered by frozen water. “Climate change and
Poland is set to hold a presidential runoff election today between two candidates offering starkly different visions for the country’s future. The winner would succeed Polish President Andrzej Duda, a conservative who is finishing his second and final term. The outcome would determine whether Poland embraces a nationalist populist trajectory or pivots more fully toward liberal, pro-European policies. An exit poll by Ipsos would be released when polls close today at 9pm local time, with a margin of error of plus or minus 2 percentage points. Final results are expected tomorrow. Whoever wins can be expected to either help or hinder the
DENIAL: Musk said that the ‘New York Times was lying their ass off,’ after it reported he used so much drugs that he developed bladder problems Elon Musk on Saturday denied a report that he used ketamine and other drugs extensively last year on the US presidential campaign trail. The New York Times on Friday reported that the billionaire adviser to US President Donald Trump used so much ketamine, a powerful anesthetic, that he developed bladder problems. The newspaper said the world’s richest person also took ecstasy and mushrooms, and traveled with a pill box last year, adding that it was not known whether Musk also took drugs while heading the so-called US Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE) after Trump took power in January. In a
RSS