김정은, 4차 방중일정 마무리... 전용열차 귀국길 올라
We begin with North Korean leader Kim Jong-un's visit to China.
The latest coming in is this: his train has left Beijing.
Let's connect to our unification ministry correspondent Oh Jung-hee standing by on the line.
Jung-hee, what are you hearing?
Daniel,
The special train carrying Kim Jong-un and his entourage left the Chinese capital this afternoon and is on its way back to Pyeongyang.
It takes about 14 hours from Beijing to Pyeongyang by train, so it's expected the North Korean leader will get home early tomorrow morning.
Earlier today Kim Jong-un visited an economic district in Beijing and had lunch with the Chinese President.
The North Korean leader went to Beijing's Economic and Technological Development Area -- a zone run by the Chinese government that hosts industrial facilities for the country's pharmaceuticals, information technology, machinery and electronics products.
Specifically, Kim Jong-un looked around a factory owned by China's representative pharmaceutical company Tongrentang for 20 to 30 minutes.
This visit shows Kim's determination to improve his regime's economy and enhance its industrial sectors.
After that, he returned briefly to his accommodation, the Diaoyutai State Guesthouse,... and then went to a hotel in Beijing for a luncheon with Xi Jinping.
Kim and Xi have already had their summit meeting yesterday for about an hour.
We're thinking that they could have discussed ways to coordinate strategies ahead of Kim's possible second summit with U.S. President Donald Trump.
Another important topic would have been strengthening their bilateral ties since this year Pyeongyang and Beijing celebrate 70 years of diplomatic relations.
Kim Jong-un's visit to China this time holds quite a lot of meaning in that it comes after Washington hinted at a possibility of North Korea-U.S. summit taking place soon... and Kim Jong-un took his time to meet with the Chinese President, despite yesterday being his birthday.
And it seems this was also a good opportunity for Kim to look into China's economy and learn from it, seeing as he's very much into developing the North's economy as well.
But both the North Korean and Chinese media have been very quiet about this news -- they were quick to report Kim heading to Beijing via train, but on other details like their summit,... state-run media in Beijing and Pyeongyang have not released any relevant reports.
But with Kim Jong-un heading back home at the moment, we are assuming that reports about the fourth North Korea-China summit may be released late today or early tomorrow.
Back to you, Daniel.
