South Korea's left-leaning Hankyoreh newspaper reported that Kim had travelled to Beijing for meetings with Chinese President Xi Jinping on Monday afternoon before leaving for a "third location", which could be in China, on Tuesday. It did not cite specific sources. The conservative South Korean Chosun Ilbo newspaper, citing an unnamed senior intelligence official, said the delegation had included Kim, and that he had left to return to North Korea.
Kim is due to hold separate summits with China's rivals, South Korea and the United States, and analysts say a visit to Beijing could be preparation for those. Beijing has traditionally been the closest ally of secretive and isolated North Korea, but ties have been frayed by North Korea's pursuit of nuclear weapons and China's backing of tough U.N. sanctions in response.
A Chinese foreign ministry spokeswoman deflected a question on whether Kim, his sister or some other senior North Korean was visiting. "At present I have no understanding of the situation you mention. If there is news we will release it," foreign ministry spokeswoman Hua Chunying told a regular daily briefing.
Diplomatic sources in Beijing said a senior North Korean official was in town, but they did not know exactly who. U.S. Defense Secretary Jim Mattis said it "kinda looked like" Kim went to Beijing, but told reporters at the Pentagon, "I don't know." A senior U.S. official who follows North Korea closely said the available evidence suggested Kim had gone to meet Xi, but stressed that has not been confirmed.
U.S. State Department spokeswoman Heather Nauert said China had not confirmed who had visited, but added, "there certainly was a lot of fanfare ... a lot of protocol." "We look forward to hearing about it and we'll leave it for the Chinese to announce who was visiting," she told a regular news briefing, adding that the United States was continuing with its plans for a summit with Kim by the end of May.
A Reuters reporter saw a convoy leave Beijing's Diaoyutai State Guest House, where senior foreign leaders often stay, and drive north on Tuesday morning. It was unclear where the convoy was headed. Later, a Reuters journalist saw what was believed to be the delegation's train pulling out of a Beijing station. The group was reported to have arrived in China on Sunday after crossing from North Korea at the border city of Dandong.