N. Korea leader Kim eyes trip to China in mid-March+

BEIJING, March 4 Kyodo -
North Korean leader Kim Jong Il plans to visit China in mid-March, sources
familiar with China-North Korean relations said Thursday.
North Korea has sounded out China about the visit happening immediately after
the annual session of the National People's Congress, which opens Friday, ends
March 14, and the two countries are coordinating the trip, the sources said.
If realized, it would be Kim's first trip to China since January 2006.
With the visit, China is expected to draw a positive response from Kim on
resuming the stalled six-party denuclearization talks, while North Korea is
believed to seek assistance in rebuilding its economy dented by the failure of
a currency reform it conducted last November.
According to the sources, North Korea thinks that if Kim visits China right
after the NPC, he will be able to hold talks with the Chinese leadership and
local government leaders gathering in Beijing for the annual event.
China, for its part, is considering hosting Kim from mid-March to early April
to pave the way for a resumption of the multilateral talks on Pyongyang's
nuclear programs possibly in April, the sources said.
North Korea pulled out of the six-way talks in April 2009 in protest at the
U.N. Security Council's censure of a rocket launch it conducted the same month
that was believed to be a ballistic missile test. The talks bring together the
two Koreas, China, Japan, Russia and the United States.
==Kyodo