North Korea’s Kim appears to have entered China

North Korean leader Kim Jong-il appears to have entered China, his impoverished state’s biggest benefactor, on one of his armoured trains for a rare trip abroad, the South’s Yonhap news agency reported on Monday.

China is the state with the most influence over the North and Kim’s previous trips to his neighbour have led to steps that have reduced regional security concerns.

“We have confirmed the arrival of a special train at (the Chinese border city) Dandong, and we believe it is highly likely that Chairman Kim is on board,” a South Korean government official told Yonhap.

Yonhap had issued a similar report several weeks ago about a likely visit but had to revise its story after officials at the border said the train thought to have been carrying Kim was an ordinary cargo train without passengers.

The visit would be Kim’s first trip abroad since his recovery from a suspected stroke in 2008.

It comes as tensions are rising on the peninsula with the South suspecting the North of attacking one of its navy vessels in late March near a disputed sea border, killing 46 of its sailors in what could be one of the deadliest strikes since the end of the 1950-53 Korean War.

Analysts said Kim may be heading to China seeking financial aid to prop up his state’s staggering economy in return for a return to international nuclear disarmament-for-aid talks hosted by Beijing that Pyongyang has boycotted for over a year.

Kim’s trip to China in 2000 was soon followed by a summit in Pyongyang with South Korea’s leader and the start of two major joint development projects in North Korea. A China trip in 2004 led to a push for talks on the North’s nuclear programmes.

The North has come under pressure to return to six-country nuclear talks due to U.N. sanctions imposed after a May 2009 atomic test. The sanctions have dealt a blow to its wobbly economy, and a botched currency move late last year has sparked inflation and rare civil unrest.

The North’s official media did not announce his 2006 visit until after Kim’s armoured train crossed the border and he was safely back in North Korea.