North Korea said to be preparing for another China visit by leader Kim Jong-un

Pyongyang sent working-level officials to Dandong, Liaoning province last week to lay groundwork, according to South Korean newspaper

It comes as US and North Korean negotiators restart nuclear talks in Sweden on Saturday in a bid to end months of stalemate

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Kim Jong-un (centre) bids farewell to China’s International Liaison Department chief Song Tao in Dandong after a visit in January. Photo: KCNA/Korea News Service via AP

Published: 8:57pm, 5 Oct 2019Updated: 10:47pm, 5 Oct 2019

Pyongyang has been preparing for a potential trip by Kim Jong-un to a Chinese border city, ahead of nuclear talks resuming between North Korean and US negotiators in Sweden.

North Korea sent a group of working-level officials to Dandong in Liaoning province last week to prepare for a possible visit by the country’s leader, according to South Korea’s Dong-A Ilbo.

“It won’t be surprising if Kim visits China soon,” a person familiar with North Korean issues was quoted by the newspaper as saying. An unidentified South Korean official told the newspaper that the country was watching closely for a possible “surprise visit” to China by Kim.

The Dong-A Ilbo report comes as both Washington and Pyongyang sent their top negotiators to resume nuclear talks at an isolated conference centre on the outskirts of Stockholm in Sweden on Saturday, in an attempt to end months of stalemate.

A motorcade carrying a North Korean delegation heads for Villa Elfvik on the island of Lidingo off Stockholm in Sweden on Saturday. Photo: Reuters

Zhang Liangui, a former professor of international strategic research at the Central Party School in Beijing, said Kim’s visits to China were no longer seen as such a surprise given that the North Korean leader had travelled to the country to meet President Xi Jinping five times in the past year or so.