KIM JONG IL ON A RARE SECRETIVE TRIP TO CHINA

BBC:

North Korean leader Kim Jong-il travelled to China on Tuesday in a special armoured train, reports said. The train carrying the secretive North Korean leader passed through the town of Dandong on the Chinese border before dawn, amid tight security. ... Kim Jong-il, who has ruled the Stalinist regime since the death of his father Kim Il-sung in 1994, rarely travels overseas. ... When travelling Kim Jong-il refuses to fly, instead travelling to foreign states by a special armoured train. ...

North Korea agreed at six-party talks in Beijing in September to abandon a nuclear programme in return for economic and security guarantees. But soon after, it said it would not scrap its nuclear deterrent until it was given a civilian nuclear reactor. Both Japan and the US have rejected Pyongyang's demand for a reactor.

[ASIDE: WHY DON'T WE - AND THE UN AND THE EU AND RUSSIA AND CHINA AND JAPAN (IOW - THE PARTY OF SIX+) BUILD A FRIGGIN' NUCLEAR POWER PLANT FOR THEM IN SOUTH KOREA - WHERE WE CAN CO-MANAGE IT, AND JUST SEND THEM THE POWER FOR FREE - IN RETURN FOR THEM SHUTTING DOWN THEIR WHOLE NUCLEAR PROGRAM!?]

YONHAP:

North Korean leader Kim Jong-il began a previously unannounced visit to China Tuesday, Chinese sources said, as Beijing was trying to revive stalled six-party talks on the North's nuclear weapons program.

There was no official confirmation of Kim's trip to China but Chinese sources in Beijing said a special train carrying Kim and his party passed through Dandong, a Chinese border city, at about 6:30 a.m. (2230 GMT), about an hour behind schedule.

WHY DON'T THE CHINESE JUST KEEP HIM?!