Mystery of N Korean 'heir' in China

Japanese news reports say Kim Jong-nam was in Tokyo to sightsee

BEIJING, China -- Secrecy surrounded the presence in Beijing Saturday of a man believed to be the eldest son of North Korean leader Kim Jong-Il.

It was unclear whether the man, expeled from Japan, had left for home. A Chinese Foreign Ministry spokeswoman said: "We don't have any news we can provide."

A North Korean Air Koryo flight departed from Beijing's airport soon after noon. Vehicles bearing North Korean diplomatic number plates were seen traveling to the airport in the morning.

A North Korean diplomatic van ran a car carrying Associated Press photographers and cameramen onto the highway shoulder after they tried to photograph those inside.

The man, his two female companions and a child flew to Beijing Friday after being deported from Japan for trying to enter on fake passports.

The man who identified himself to Japanese police as Kim's oldest child, Kim Jong-nam, was reportedly headed with his 4-year-old son to Tokyo Disneyland.

The Japanese government said the foursome arrived in Japan on Tuesday from Singapore on forged Dominican documents but refused to give other details.

On arrival in Beijing, the chubby, bespectacled man left the plane without entering the airport and was taken to a VIP entrance by a van that reporters earlier had seen leaving the North Korean embassy in Beijing. There were no further signs of the foursome's whereabouts.

Kim was accompanied by several traveling companions

China is the most important of North Korea's remaining communist allies and caters to North Korea's obsession with secrecy.

China fought on North Korea's side against the United States in the 1950-53 Korean War. Hoping to assert itself as a regional power, Beijing used its ties with both North and South Korea to sponsor talks between them last year.

China refused to confirm a pair of recent visits by Kim Jong-Il to China until Kim had left the country.

In January, Foreign Ministry spokesmen repeatedly claimed no knowledge of Kim's presence in China, even though foreign media witnessed the leader visiting the stock market and other sites in China's commercial capital, Shanghai.

Little is known about the members of North Korea's first family and the last publicly available photo of Kim Jong-nam was taken in 1981 when he was a 10-year-old boy.

He is believed to be one of three children born to Kim Jong-Il, all to different mothers, South Korean officials say. The others are a daughter, Kim Sul Song, born in 1974 and son Kim Jong Chul, born in 1981.

Despite widespread hunger and economic collapse in North Korea, Kim's family and the North Korean ruling class reportedly live lavishly.

Aid workers say food shortages caused by bad harvests and decades of economic bungling have forced many North Koreans to survive by eating tree bark.

Japanese media said the man believed to be Kim Jong-nam wore a diamond-encrusted Rolex watch and the women with him carried Louis Vuitton designer bags.

The bizarre episode came on the heels of a visit to Pyongyang by Swedish Prime Minister Goran Persson, the first visit by a Western European leader.

Seeking to end its diplomatic isolation and seek outside help to stave off economic collapse, North Korea has opened ties with a slew of countries over the past year.

Persson said Kim Jong-Il had promised to extend a moratorium on missile tests until 2003. But another delegation member, European Union security affairs chief Javier Solana, said Kim was still willing to export missile technology.

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