03-05-10 North Korean leader on rare visit to China

North Korea's reclusive leader Kim Jong-Il arrived in China on Monday,an official said, on a trip to his country's sole major ally which could lead to the revival of stalled nuclear talks."Kim arrived at about five this morning," said an official at the Friendship Bridge tourist site at northeastern China's Dandong border crossing with North Korea."We received a notice from the Public Security Bureau and the army that we should shut down tourist operations in the morning (when Kim's train came over from North Korea)," the official told AFP by telephone.It is Kim's first trip in more than four years to China,the North's main source of finance,food and fuel and which is seen as one of the few nations able to put pressure on Pyongyang's hardline regime.Rail officials in China's Liaoning province also confirmed that a special train from North Korea crossed into the country on Monday,but the Chinese foreign ministry refused to immediately say that Kim had arrived.Analysts said China could press Kim to return to the six-party nuclear disarmament talks it hosts in return for badly needed aid for his impoverished communist nation.Kim,who is said to dislike air travel,has visited China four times since 2000 by train.The last trip in January 2006 was shrouded in secrecy and only formally announced after it had ended.North Korea has suffered from persistent food shortages since its former benefactor the Soviet Union collapsed almost 20 years ago.Ongoing shortages were further aggravated last November by a bungled currency reform.Kim's visit comes after Chinese President Hu Jintao on Friday met South Korean President Lee Myung-Bak and also held talks with North Korea's number two leader Kim Yong-Nam on the sidelines of the World Expo in Shanghai.Tensions on the Korean peninsula have been rising since the mysterious sinking of a South Korean warship near the disputed sea border with North Korea on March 26,with suspicion falling on Pyongyang.According to South Korea's Yonhap news agency,citing sources in Seoul and Beijing,a 17-carriage train crossed the Yalu border river into Dandong at 5:20 am (2120 GMT Sunday) amid tight security.The train was thought likely to be headed to the booming eastern Chinese port city of Dalian en route to Beijing,Yonhap said."The special train from North Korea,we are not clear about when it will come ... the leaders don't tell us," an official at Dalian railway station told AFP on condition of anonymity.