The Moment

Kim Jong Il doesn’t make many road trips these days. he’s 68 and not fully recovered from a stroke he had nearly two years ago. On May 3, however, the North Korean dictator rode his luxury train to the Chinese port of Dalian before moving on to Beijing. China and North Korea, Mao Zedong once said, “are as close as lips and teeth.” Pyongyang relies on Beijing for its economic survival, and Beijing finds Pyongyang useful as a buffer state. But the Dear Leader might have found his hosts less cordial than usual. Kim is proving to be a pain not just to the rest of the world — he has yet to return to talks on denuclearization — but to Beijing too. The atmosphere is soured by the recent sinking of a South Korean corvette. Seoul believes it was struck by a North Korean torpedo, and South Korean President Lee Myung Bak vows “clear and stern measures” against those responsible. That’s the last thing China, which prizes stability above all else on the Korean peninsula, would wish for. With friends like these, Beijing might wonder about Kim, who needs enemies?

See pictures of the rise of Kim Jong Il.

See rare pictures from inside North Korea.