North Korean leader Kim Jong Un arrived in the Chinese border city of Dandong on Oct. 24 via the newly opened New Yalu River Bridge, Reuters reported, citing a South Korean government official who spoke anonymously because they were not authorized to speak publicly. AFP said in a post that a Seoul government source and South Korean media reported Kim appeared to have arrived in Dandong.
A spokesperson for South Korea's Unification Ministry had no immediate comment, Reuters reported. China's foreign ministry did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
China and North Korea opened the 3-kilometer bridge earlier in October after a long delay, Reuters reported. The crossing is expected to help move heavy equipment, raw materials and energy products. Those potential shipments are not reported results.
Lu Chao, a China-North Korea relations expert at the Liaoning Academy of Social Sciences, told Reuters that the bridge had resolved a major trade-logistics bottleneck and that bilateral trade was likely to grow. He viewed Kim's visit as consistent with closer economic ties and more frequent high-level exchanges.
Christopher Green, a Korea specialist at Leiden University, told Reuters it was too early to discern Kim's intentions while he was only in Dandong. Green considered a summit with Chinese President Xi Jinping probable, but stressed that nothing was certain.
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