North Korean leader Kim Jong-il is believed to have arrived in the Chinese border city of Dandong early Monday by train and be heading to the port city of Dalian, Yonhap News reported.
"We have confirmed the arrival of a special train at Dandong, and we believe it is highly likely that Chairman Kim was on board," Yonhap quoted an official in Seoul as saying, referring to the North Korean leader by his official title as the head of the National Defense Commission.
The government is trying to confirm details, the official added.
The 17-carriage train arrived in Dandong around 5:20 a.m. (local time) Monday, one day after diplomatic sources in Seoul and in the Chinese capital said Kim's trip to China was imminent.
A diplomatic source in Beijing said Kim did arrive in China early Monday and was heading to Dalian.
"It is extremely rare to see a 17-carriage North Korean train come into China," the source said, asking not to be identified.
All regular passenger trains from North Korea to Dandong arrive in the afternoon and usually have only four or five coaches.
Some 200 Chinese police officers tightly surrounded the train station in Dandong early Monday, and the entire road in front of the station was blocked off to traffic ahead of the train's arrival. The blockade was taken down around 6:30 a.m.
It was not clear whether or why Kim would head to Dalian as his first stop. Watchers say it may have to do with North Korea's plan to develop its own port, Rajin.
Kim has visited China four times since 2000, by train only. He is said to be afraid of flying.
The North Korean leader's trip to China has long been anticipated by Seoul and Washington, who hoped that the visit will be followed by Pyongyang's announcement of its return to six-party talks on its denuclearization.
Such prospects, however, have dimmed with suspicions that the North may be behind the deadly sinking of a South Korean warship on March 26 that killed 46 young sailors aboard.
South Korean Foreign Minister Yu Myung-hwan earlier said his country will oppose resuming the nuclear negotiations if the communist North is found to have been involved in the sinking of the 1,200-ton warship, Cheonan, because the North "must be made to pay for its actions."
Kim's trip to China is believed to be aimed largely at winning economic assistance for his impoverished nation, which is under strengthened U.N. sanctions imposed last year after its missile and nuclear tests.
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