Chinese state TV confirms visit by NKorea's Kim

China and North Korea confirmed Monday that their leaders met while Kim Jong Il was on a secretive trip to China apparently to seek aid and drum up support for a succession plan.

Though media organizations had widely speculated a visit was under way, quoting anonymous officials and pointing to a train and motorcade believed to be the North Korean dictator's, simultaneous dispatches from both countries' state media Monday evening were the first official confirmation. The reports likely signaled the trip was over as both countries usually don't acknowledge Kim's visits until after he has returned home.

China Central Television reported on its main evening broadcast that Kim met President Hu Jintao on Friday in the northeast city of Changchun. North Korean state media issued a report at the same time confirming the trip and published a speech Kim gave to Hu.

Neither of the reports mentioned Kim's son, Kim Jong Un, despite fervent speculation the younger Kim accompanied his ailing father, who seems to be grooming the 20-something to succeed him at the head of the world's last hardline communist state. Foreign diplomats in Beijing who were briefed on the visit also did not mention the younger Kim.

Officials from the International Liaison Department, the Communist Party office which handles China's relations with North Korea, separately briefed senior diplomats from Japan, Russia, South Korea and the United States about Kim's visit. The officials did not say whether Kim had brought his son and heir-apparent, but said the visit was previously arranged and largely focused on the economy, said Asian and Western diplomats.

CCTV said Kim visited Jilin, Changchun and Harbin. Among the sites Kim visited, state television showed a field with of large orange pumpkins. It also showed scenes of Kim and Hu hugging and holding meetings.

The official Xinhua News Agency said Kim told Hu he hoped for an early resumption of six-nation talks to ease tensions on the Korean peninsula. It did not give any details. North Korea walked away from the nuclear disarmament talks last year in protest at an international condemnation of a long-range rocket launch. Prospects for restarting the talks were put into doubt with the sinking of a South Korean warship in March.

A Seoul-led international investigation blamed Pyongyang for torpedoing the South Korean warship Cheonan, killing 46 sailors. North Korea denies involvement.

Many North Korea watchers predict the son will be appointed to a key party position at a ruling Workers' Party meeting early next month _ the first such gathering in decades _ as part of a succession process. North Korea would need Chinese aid to pull off such an event.

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Associated Press writer Sangwon Yoon in Seoul, South Korea, contributed to this report.