Kim's special train left the northeastern city of Changchun late Saturday in what was believed to be a departure for home, South Korea's Yonhap news agency reported.But as of Sunday morning there were no signs the train had returned to the North via the Chinese border cities of Dandong or Jian, the agency quoted a diplomatic source in Beijing as saying.
A source in the Chinese city of Yanji told Yonhap the local government was preparing to receive a special guest. "It is highly likely that it would be Chairman Kim," the source said.
Kim has not previously visited Yanji, capital of the Yanbian Korean Autonomous Prefecture which is part of China's economic development plan for its northeastern provinces.
Yonhap said Kim's other likely destinations in Yanbian include the towns of Tumen and Hunchun near the border with the North.
The South's cable news channel YTN reported that work to clean up main streets and control traffic in Tumen began Sunday morning. It said some 10 large sedans have been waiting at a train station in Namyang, a North Korean town bordering Tumen, since early Saturday afternoon.
South Korean media has reported that Kim, 68, is believed to have met President Hu Jintao in Changchun, during an apparent mission to seek China's support for an eventual handover of power to his youngest son Jong-Un.
The leader suffered a stroke in August 2008 and since then has speeded up plans for a power transfer in the hardline communist state.
China is the impoverished North's sole major ally and its economic lifeline. It chairs six-nation talks on the North's nuclear disarmament and has been pressing Pyongyang to return to the forum which it quit in April 2009.
The current visit is Kim's second to China in about three months, even though he rarely travels abroad. He met Hu during his previous visit in May.
The trip went ahead despite last week's visit to Pyongyang by former US President Jimmy Carter to secure the release of a jailed American. It was not known whether Jong-Un, believed to be aged about 27, accompanied his father.
On the first day on Thursday, Kim paid a visit to Jilin's Yuwen Middle School which his father, North Korea's founder Kim Il-Sung, attended from 1927 to 1930.
Yonhap said a visit by Kim to the Yanbian region may be related to economic cooperation plans.
Beijing is reportedly seeking permission to extend its lease of the North's northeastern port of Rajin which provides access to the Sea of Japan (East Sea).
China currently has a 10-year lease on Rajin, which also borders Russia, Li Longxi, governor of the Yanbian prefecture, said during China's annual legislative meeting in March.
He said the use of the port would make it easier to ship coal from northeast China to southern China and Japan.
Official media in Beijing and Pyongyang have said nothing about Kim's visit, which may also be aimed at securing much-needed food and construction aid following recent severe floods.
Seoul officials said they would seek information from China as soon as Kim returns home.
"Customarily, China has briefed related countries about the result of Kim's visit (to China) once he returns home, and South Korea is certainly the number one priority in this matter," a foreign ministry spokesman told AFP.
"We expect the same process to take place very soon, possibly this week."
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