A green and yellow train has set off a firestorm of speculation as to whether the North Korean leader, Kim Jong-un, has been in China on his first trip abroad.
The visit, which would be Kim’s first to China since taking power in 2011, comes before historic meetings with his counterparts in South Korea and the US, expected to take place later this year.
A “special train” carrying a high-level Korean official had been spotted in the north-eastern Chinese border city of Dandong, Japan’s Kyodo News reported. According to footage captured by Japan’s Nippon TV, a distinctive olive green train with yellow stripes – similar to that used by Kim’s father, Kim Jong-il, when he visited China in 2011 – arrived in Beijing on Monday.
Citing three sources close to the matter, Bloomberg said on Monday that the North Korean leader was in the Chinese capital.
On Tuesday, a heavily guarded motorcade was seen in the centre of Beijing, while police blocked off streets around the main railway station. The green train believed to be carrying Kim left Beijing on Tuesday afternoon, according to reports.
Hua Chunying, a spokeswoman for China’s ministry of foreign affairs, said in a briefing on Tuesday that she was “not aware of any information” regarding a visiting dignitary from North Korea. Asked about the train and the large motorcade, Hua said: “At present, I really have no information on that.”
Online search terms for North Korea, as well as nicknames for Kim including “Kim fatty the third”, were blocked on the Chinese microblogging site Weibo this week.
After years of provocations and missile tests, Pyongyang has made an unexpected diplomatic effort recently. Kim is expected to meet with the South Korean president, Moon Jae-in, in April and to hold a summit with the US president, Donald Trump, in May.
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