Kim Jong-Il Visits China

Kim Jong-Il likely entered China by train today as tensions over an alleged attack on a South Korean cruiser threatened to boil over. Both North and South Korea are looking to China for help—Seoul wants the North to be punished economically for the strike, while Kim wants further aid from China in a wake of last year's failed currency reform, Reuters reports.

Kim is expected to use the possibility of rejoining nuclear disarmament talks as a bargaining chip for Chinese aid. Reporters did not get full confirmation that Kim had crossed into China, as security forces cleared out the media who were camping along the train line Kim would have used. Nonetheless, the South Korean government told Yonhap News agency that "we have confirmed the arrival of a special train at Dandong, and we believe it is highly likely that Chairman Kim is on board."
(More North Korea stories.)