[USFK Forums] N. Korean leader photographed aboard riverboat in China [Yonhap]

[C. Y. Lee]

Uploaded by C. Y. Lee on Saturday, January 14, 2006

2006/01/14 12:34

N. Korean leader photographed aboard riverboat in China

TOKYO, Jan. 14 (Yonhap) -- A Japanese television network aired footage of a man believed to be North Korean leader Kim Jong-il taking a luxury excursion on a riverboat in the southern Chinese city of Guangzhou on Friday night.

[SORRY, PHOTO IS HERE BUT MISSING]

The scene caught by Japan's TBS station around 10 p.m. showed the man dressed in a beige suit similar to the ones favored by former leader Mao Zedong sitting on a white sofa inside the ship and watching the landscape roll by through a window.

In the footage, several figures in black suits are seen standing behind the man believed to be the North Korean leader as another man approaches him.

The ship was flanked by patrol boats and police were deployed along the banks of the river every few meters.

News of Kim's whereabouts in China has captured world headlines as South Korean and Japanese media agencies reported he crossed the Sino-Korean border by train earlier this week.

The reports said Kim's trip is aimed at discussing economic cooperation and U.S. sanctions now levied on his communist country.

Press reports said Kim arrived in Guangzhou via Shanghai on Friday morning, airing television footage showing a motorcade of limousines and other vehicles believed to be carrying Kim entering the city's White Swan Hotel. No clear pictures of Kim's face were available as all of the limousines had blacked-out windows.

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