SEOUL: A convoy believed to be carrying North Korean leader Kim Jong-Il arrived at a train station in the Chinese industrial city of Harbin on Monday during his prolonged surprise trip to China, a report said.

A convoy of 35 cars believed to be carrying Kim and his entourage left Tai Yang Dao hotel in the northeastern Chinese city early in the morning and arrived at the station at 7:55 am (1155 GMT), Yonhap news agency reported.

Kim`s next destination is not known yet but it is believed he may head to a Korean autonomous zone in northeast China before returning to Pyongyang, Yonhap said.

Kim is believed to have been in China since Thursday, travelling on his private train and possibly accompanied by his son Kim Jong-Un, his apparent successor as leader of the isolated communist state.

Analysts said the trip is aimed at getting China`s blessing on a transfer of power to Kim`s son and getting much-needed food and financial aid following the recent floods that hit North Korea.

China is the impoverished North`s sole major ally and its economic lifeline. It chairs six-nation talks on Pyongyang`s nuclear disarmament and has been pressing the North to return to the forum, which it quit in April 2009.

Kim reportedly met with Chinese leader Hu Jinatao in the northeastern city of Changchun and has is said to have visited industrial installations and sites related to his father, Kim Il-Sung, the North`s founding president.

BDST: 0939 HRS, August 30, 2010