Kim Jong Il appears to head home after latest hush-hush trip to China

North Korean leader Kim Jong Il appeared to be headed home Sunday from a secretive trip to China that analysts believed was intended to pave the way for an imminent succession to power of Kim’s youngest son.

Kim traveled by private train to China last week apparently on a mission to appeal to Communist leaders, who are North Korea’s closest allies, to support the political emergence of Kim’s son, Kim Jong Eun. The younger Kim reportedly accompanied his father on the trip.

Officials in Beijing have not commented on Kim Jong Il’s itinerary and have not confirmed that the North Korean leader even traveled to their country. Such details are usually released only after Kim has safely returned to North Korea.

Kim’s surprise trip to China came as former U.S. President Carter arrived in Pyongyang, reportedly at North Korea’s invitation, to negotiate the release of an American English teacher who had been held by the government since January for illegally entering the country. Carter escorted the man, Aijalon Mahli Gomes, home to Boston on Friday.

Kim’s decision to leave the North Korean capital and snub Carter, analysts say, sent a message that North Korea’s relationship to its Communist neighbor and ally is paramount to all other concerns.

During his trip, Kim was believed to have met with top Chinese officials. South Korea’s Chosun Ilbo newspaper and Yonhap news agency both reported that Kim was believed to have met Chinese President Hu Jintao in the city of Changchun on Friday.

A grainy photograph published by Japan’s Kyodo News agency shows a diminutive man in Kim’s signature khaki jumpsuit standing on a diplomatic red carpet and shaking hands with a man believed to be a senior Chinese official.

Kim, who is 68 and in poor health after suffering a stroke in 2008, is expected to announce his son, believed to be in his 20s, as his successor at a special congress next month of the ruling Workers’ Party.

Yonhap reported Sunday that Kim might be headed toward a Chinese city near the North Korean border before heading home. Kim’s special train left Changchun about 9:15 p.m. Saturday, but on Sunday there were no signs on the border that the train had passed back into North Korea.

The trip was the second to China in three months for the reclusive Kim, who rarely travels abroad, signaling that political change may be afoot in the nation of 23 million.

North Korea relies on foreign aid, mainly from China and South Korea, to feed residents who in recent years have been hit by crop failure and starvation.

john.glionna@latimes.com