김정은, 4차 방중일정 마무리... 전용열차 귀국길 올라<br /><br />We begin with North Korean leader Kim Jong-un's visit to China.<br />The latest coming in is this: his train has left Beijing.<br />Let's connect to our unification ministry correspondent Oh Jung-hee standing by on the line.<br />Jung-hee, what are you hearing?<br />Daniel,<br />The special train carrying Kim Jong-un and his entourage left the Chinese capital this afternoon and is on its way back to Pyeongyang.<br />It takes about 14 hours from Beijing to Pyeongyang by train, so it's expected the North Korean leader will get home early tomorrow morning.<br />Earlier today Kim Jong-un visited an economic district in Beijing and had lunch with the Chinese President.<br />The North Korean leader went to Beijing's Economic and Technological Development Area -- a zone run by the Chinese government that hosts industrial facilities for the country's pharmaceuticals, information technology, machinery and electronics products.<br />Specifically, Kim Jong-un looked around a factory owned by China's representative pharmaceutical company Tongrentang for 20 to 30 minutes.<br />This visit shows Kim's determination to improve his regime's economy and enhance its industrial sectors.<br />After that, he returned briefly to his accommodation, the Diaoyutai State Guesthouse,... and then went to a hotel in Beijing for a luncheon with Xi Jinping.<br />Kim and Xi have already had their summit meeting yesterday for about an hour.<br />We're thinking that they could have discussed ways to coordinate strategies ahead of Kim's possible second summit with U.S. President Donald Trump.<br />Another important topic would have been strengthening their bilateral ties since this year Pyeongyang and Beijing celebrate 70 years of diplomatic relations.<br />Kim Jong-un's visit to China this time holds quite a lot of meaning in that it comes after Washington hinted at a possibility of North Korea-U.S. summit taking place soon... and Kim Jong-un took his time to meet with the Chinese President, despite yesterday being his birthday.<br />And it seems this was also a good opportunity for Kim to look into China's economy and learn from it, seeing as he's very much into developing the North's economy as well.<br />But both the North Korean and Chinese media have been very quiet about this news -- they were quick to report Kim heading to Beijing via train, but on other details like their summit,... state-run media in Beijing and Pyeongyang have not released any relevant reports.<br />But with Kim Jong-un heading back home at the moment, we are assuming that reports about the fourth North Korea-China summit may be released late today or early tomorrow.<br />Back to you, Daniel.
