Chinese state TV confirms visit by NKorea's Kim

Though reporters and diplomats had tracked the reclusive North Korean dictator's travels by trying to spot his special train and motorcade through northeast China, the simultaneous dispatches from both countries' state media were the first official confirmation of Kim's five-day visit. The releases likely signaled that the trip was over as both countries usually wait for Kim to return home before acknowledging his visits.

China Central Television showed footage on its main evening broadcast of a paunchy, 68-year-old Kim embracing Chinese President Hu Jintao on Friday in the northeast city of Changchun.

Not seen in the footage nor mentioned in other Chinese and North Korean media was Kim's third son and heir-apparent, Kim Jong Un, who was rumored to have been part of the delegation. Foreign diplomats in Beijing briefed separately on the visit said Communist Party officials also did not say if the son was present.

Diplomats and analysts who follow the isolated, impoverished country have speculated that a goal of Kim's trip was to bolster support from China, North Korea's main benefactor, for his youngest son, ahead of a rare Workers' Party congress next month.

While the state media accounts did not mention Kim's son by name, the elder dictator did touch on North Korea's political transition, telling Chinese leaders that their successors should build upon the strong bonds the countries share.

"With the international situation remaining complicated, it is our important historical mission to hand over to the rising generation the baton of the traditional friendship passed over by the revolutionary forerunners of the two countries as a precious asset so as to carry it forward through generations," the Korean Central News Agency quoted Kim as telling Hu in a banquet toast on Friday.

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