North Korean leader Kim Jong-il headed to Beijing by train today to talk to Chinese leaders about economic reforms and a return to nuclear disarmament negotiations, but any bold move is unlikely, Reuters reported. Reclusive Kim's last visit to China in 2006 brought effusive promises of economic cooperation between the two neighbours, as well as broad vows from the North Korean leader to seek progress towards "denuclearisation". There have been few signs of either. Neither Beijing nor Pyongyang has confirmed Kim's latest trip abroad, but there was little doubt the short, frizzy-haired leader entered China on Monday, staying in Dalian, a northeastern port promoted as a showcase of market reforms. A train that resembled plane-shy Kim's chosen transportation then left a city station early on Tuesday evening and a source with ties to China's leadership said he was going to Beijing for talks with President Hu Jintao and other officials. North Korea is keen to learn from China's success but any changes would be "gradual", said the source, who declined to be named because the visit is politically sensitive. China will also urge a return to six-party talks on nuclear disarmament that Pyongyang has boycotted for over a year. But Zhang Liangui, an expert on North Korea at the Central Party School in Beijing, said that the economy is the key. "I think the North Korean leader will be most concerned about economic relations, because the domestic economy there is in trouble," Zhang said. Chinese Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Jiang Yu refused to confirm or comment on the trip, saying only that "China and North Korea have a tradition of high-level mutual visits". The choice of Dalian, with its foreign companies and industrial parks, showed that Beijing wants to nudge Kim to grapple with his feeble economy, said Zhang. A South Korean official, speaking on condition of anonymity, said that Kim, who left his a Dalian hotel in a motorcade of limousines, mini-buses and security escorts, visited a dock facility near Dalian. A mismanaged currency re-denomination last year paralysed much of North Korea's nascent private business and sent shivers of unrest through the brittle economy. "China hopes that Kim will learn from it, but North Korea doesn't think that way," said Zhang, citing Pyongyang's adherence to a doctrine of "juche", or self-reliance. "It would be childish to expect that Kim Jong-il will change his mind because he has visited a few projects." China is a crucial economic and political backer of its smaller neighbour, which it fears could become a dire burden if 68-year-old Kim's regime falls apart and spills refugees into northeast China. In 2009, trade between China and North Korea -- which has an estimated GDP of $17 billion -- was worth $2.7 billion. -- SPA
