KIM JONG IL'S EXCELLENT CHINESE ADVENTURE: THE MYSTERY GROWS

TURKISH PRESS: China has refused to confirm or deny a visit by North Korean leader Kim Jong-Il, who had reportedly crossed the border on a special train earlier in the day. "Presently I am not empowered to release information on this," foreign ministry spokesman Kong Quan told reporters at a regular press briefing.

YOHAP (South Korea): North Korean leader Kim Jong-il arrived on Monday in the Chinese city of Shanghai by his plane, not a special train, an informed source here said Wednesday. The source, who requested anonymity, said Kim's first stopover in his reported China visit was Shanghai, though the real purpose of his visit was not known immediately.

DAWN (Pakistan): North Korean leader Kim Jong-il passed through China on Tuesday on the way to Russia, a source with knowledge of the stopover said. South Korean and Japanese media said Mr Kim was making a secret visit to China. “He passed through China. He left today for Russia,” the source said. “He did not meet any (Chinese) leaders,” the source said, adding that Mr Kim may stop over in China on his way home. There was unusually heavy security near the train station in the Chinese border city of Dandong and talk of a special train from North Korea passing through before dawn on Tuesday, South Korea’s Yonhap news agency said, quoting a source in the city. Japan’s Kyodo news agency had a similar report quoting diplomatic sources in Beijing.

INTERFAX (Russia): Moscow has not confirmed reports by a number of Western media outlets alleging that North Korean leader Kim Jong Il would visit Russia in the near future. "These reports don't have any grounds," a Russian Foreign Ministry source told Interfax on Tuesday. The North Korean Embassy in Moscow also refused to confirm that Kim might visit Russia in the next few days. "We don't know anything about this, we don't have such information," the North Korean Embassy press attache in Moscow told Interfax on Tuesday.

AP: The top U.S. negotiator for international nuclear talks with North Korea is visiting Japan, South Korea and China this week for consultations aimed at breaking the impasse in the stalled negotiations, Seoul's foreign minister said Wednesday. Word of Assistant Secretary of State Christopher Hill's visit comes amid reports that North Korean strongman Kim Jong Il traveled to China Tuesday, though his visit has yet to be officially announce. Hill was scheduled to arrive in South Korea late Wednesday after holding talks in Japan, Foreign Minister Ban Ki-moon told reporters. Hill is scheduled to leave for China on Thursday morning after consultations in Seoul, Ban said.

Strange reports made stranger and more mysterious by their conflicting accounts. SOMETHING IS UP. Stay tuned...

UPDATE/DONGHA : No Traces of Kim-

“This is a really top-secret visit to China. No traces of Kim in China have been found,” a South Korean Embassy official in Beijing said. “This visit is being conducted in a more clandestine manner than ones in the past.”

Kim’s fear of a possible second Yongcheon explosion incident may be another reason for the enhanced secrecy surrounding his visit. The Yongcheon Station explosion occurred right when Kim was going back to North Korea after completing his visit to China in 2004. The explosion took place just eight hours after the special train that Kim went aboard passed through Yongcheon Station. Because of this, speculation was rife that the incident was a premeditated attempt to kill Kim and not a mere accident.

ALSO IN CHINA: The USA's chief negotiator in the Six Party North Korean talks. IS THIS A COINCIDENCE, OR IS A SECRET DEAL BEING NEGOTIATED?

UPDATES (1/12/06):

IHT: The U.S. envoy to multiparty talks on North Korea's nuclear program arrived here Thursday in an effort to restart the stalled negotiations. Christopher Hill's visit coincided with continuing reports that Kim Jong Il, the North Korean leader, was also in China and may also intend to confer with Chinese leaders on efforts to dismantle the North's nuclear capabilities.

AP/CHICAGO SUN-TIMES: - The top U.S. negotiator on North Korea's nuclear programs said Thursday he had no plans to meet the isolated regime's leader while in China, where Kim Jong Il is widely believed to have traveled.

RELIAPUNDIT: BOTH ITEMS ARE TRUE. Note, the AP article merely says that Hill WON'T MEET with Kim - NOT that they aren't negotiating INDIRECTLY. China is probably the middle-man in secret two-way talks between Hill and Kim Jong Il. STAY TUNED...