Reclusive Kim Jong Il Having an Outtasight Time in China

For someone said to rival the sun in brightness and who can shoot holes in one with ease while inspiring millions, North Korean leader Kim Jong Il doesn’t leave much of a footprint.

For three days, rumors and third-hand reports have circulated of the secretive dictator’s arrival in his own armored train to meet with Chinese officials. Yet one would never know by reading the Chinese or North Korean press.

At the official Chinese Foreign Ministry briefing Tuesday, which listed in great detail the comings and goings of a bevy of VIPs ranging from Europeans and Americans to Indonesians, Georgians and Cook Islanders, officials seemed strangely bereft of specifics when it came to the “Dear Leader.”

“You have raised a very smart question,” Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesman Kong Quan told reporters, before skirting it with generalities about North Korea and China being friendly neighbors and exchanging views on various issues in a broad range of forums. “That is what I can tell you at this moment.”

A follow-up query about why such secrecy was necessary earned a similarly vague response. “My answer is almost the same as what I answered just now,” Kong said before launching into more generalities on neighborly communication through varied contacts. “This should satisfy your needs.”

Is Kim Jong Il in China or not? reporters bluntly asked.

“Up to this moment I have no information to deny what you’ve said, but I don’t have any authoritative information to confirm what you said,” the spokesman said. “I hope this can conclude the question.”

North Korea’s obsession with secrecy, a preference respected by host Beijing, reflects a mind-set that information is not to be shared, particularly if it involves the movement of the senior leadership, said North Korea specialist Jin Linbo, a senior research fellow with the China Institute of International Studies. It wasn’t too long ago that China followed a similar approach, he added.

China hopes that this week’s visit, reported in the South Korean media, will help facilitate a third round of six-party talks by late June involving the two Koreas, China, the United States, Japan and Russia. These negotiations, organized by Beijing, are aimed at eliminating Pyongyang’s nuclear weapons.

Kim, who rarely appears in public in North Korea, let alone abroad, is said to love French Cognac, cinema and fine food and usually travels by train because he is afraid of flying.

Such an impressive seven-car private train, reportedly with more than 40 North Korean officials, should be hard to miss. A call to the Beijing Railway Station, however, turned up little.

“We have no idea about this,” said a woman at the station’s administrative office. “You should ask our Communist Party propaganda department.”

That department seemed similarly uninformed. “No, we haven’t heard about that,” an official said, then suggested a call to the Railways Ministry.

The ministry pleaded ignorance, directing reporters to its press section, which referred them to the international cooperation section, which in turn referred the journalists to the office of foreign media, which didn’t answer its phone.

Kim has hit five holes in one in a single round of golf, according to North Korea, which touts the beauty of the nation’s world-class golf course, about 15 miles from Pyongyang along the Youth Hero Motorway. Officials at Beijing’s Sanlitun Golf Club said Tuesday that they hadn’t heard of anyone fitting Kim’s description, undermining the theory that he might have wanted to enjoy a few rounds.

Nor had Li Feng, 33, a clerk at a store that sells French Cognac beside the North Korean Embassy, noticed any unusual buying activity.

One of Kim’s reasons for making the trip is to establish ties with President Hu Jintao and Premier Wen Jiabao, analysts said, given that he hadn’t met with China’s new leaders since they were named a year ago. Kim also hopes to confer with China on its economic aid to cash-strapped Pyongyang.

During his visit, Kim also reportedly wishes to strengthen connections with former Chinese President Jiang Zemin, who still controls China’s military.

Officials with the People’s Liberation Army could not be reached to assess the North Korean leader’s whereabouts or plans. The organization’s number is unlisted.

Yin Lijin in The Times’ Beijing Bureau contributed to this report.