Chinese state TV confirms visit by NKorea's Kim

Beijing has also provided diplomatic support, encouraging Kim to rejoin six-nation talks on ending North Korea's nuclear program and shielding the country from even harsher sanctions by the United Nations. China's Xinhua News Agency said Kim told Hu that North Korea hoped for an early resumption of the negotiations.

Those talks stalled when North Korea test-fired a long-range missile and exploded a nuclear device last year. Prospects for restarting negotiations were undermined further after a South Korean warship sank in March, killing 46 sailors, and Seoul and Washington accused North Korea of torpedoing the vessel -- a claim Pyongyang denies.

Officials from the International Liaison Department, the Communist Party office which handles China's relations with North Korea, told diplomats from Japan, Russia, South Korea and the United States that Kim's visit was previously arranged and largely focused on the economy, said Asian and Western diplomats.

CCTV said Kim visited Jilin, Changchun and Harbin, once centers of heavy industry under the planned economy that have tried to remake themselves under free-market competition. Among the sites Kim visited, state television showed a field with of large orange pumpkins.

Those cities are also important to North Koreans as places where Kim's father and revolutionary patriarch Kim Il Sung went to school and engaged in activities to oust Japan, the region's colonial occupier in the first half of the 20th century.

Cui Yingjiu, a retired professor of Korean literature at China's Peking University and former classmate of Kim Jong Il, said the North Korean leader likely brought his son along for a family history lesson.

"I think he is probably bringing his son to visit the middle school that Kim Il Sung attended, and to visit the revolutionary site where he fought against Japan," Cui said.

Kim has three sons but is said to favor the youngest, despite his youth and inexperience. However, little is known about Kim Jong Un. The only known photo of him was taken when he was a child. If he assumes power, it will continue a dynastic tradition that began when Kim Jong Il took over after his own father's death.

Kim's trip is his second to China in three months -- unusual for someone who rarely leaves his country. His May trip included talks with Hu and tours of companies and economic zones.

That trip, unlike the current one, was preceded by months of speculation that Kim would visit China.

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