Uploaded by C. Y. Lee on Friday, January 13, 2006
China blocks hotel amid rumors over N.Korea's Kim
Reuterrs, Thu Jan 12, 9:06 AM ET
GUANGZHOU, China (Reuters) - Chinese authorities took over a hotel in the southern city of Guangzhou on Thursday and barred public access amid rumors North Korean leader Kim Jong-il is making a secret visit.
Traffic was cordoned off several hundred meters (yards) from the White Swan Hotel and police and hotel staff stopped people from walking in.
"I am sorry, but the government has rented the whole hotel and in fact this morning we had to send our guests to other hotels," one employee told Reuters. "We will only open for regular business on the morning of the 16th."
Asked if any special visitors were staying at the hotel, she said: "We don't know. We have not been told anything."
In Beijing, Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesman Kong Quan told reporters he had "no information to offer" on Kim's whereabouts. Various media reports -- citing witnesses, diplomatic sources and those familiar with his movements -- have put Kim in Beijing or Shanghai. One source said he was in Russia.
Hong Kong reporters began flocking to Guangzhou, capital of Guangdong province, on rumors Kim was staying at the White Swan.
But Russia's Itar-Tass news agency said on Thursday that Kim was still in North Korea and the mystery person said to have crossed into China might be a member of his family.
Tass quoted an unnamed informed source in the North Korean capital, Pyongyang, where it has a correspondent, as saying: "The leader, as far as I know, is at present in North Korea."
01-13-2006, 10:09 AM
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