North Korean leader Kim Jong-il's visit to China

Late this August, Korean leader Kim Jong-il traveled by protected train to China to meet with several leaders for reasons not entirely clear. Many believe that the meetings were to discuss the successorship of Kim Jong-il with his son Kim Jong-un. This however is only one possibility and one that the Korean Times sheds more light on. In an article written by Sunny Lee, Mr.Jin Jingyi a professor of international politics at the Department of Korean Studies is interviewed and says that the two countries economies were the main focus of conversation with the succession being only one piece of the whole. With the national Workers Party meeting coming soon, the venue in which Kim Jong-un is spectulated to debut, the economy is a hot subject for China and North Korea

“Of course, the party conference is important as it is an occasion to introduce some new faces in the leadership. But to successfully pull through such a national event, the leadership needs to create a festive atmosphere, with more food to go around for the public. So, North Korea requires an economy that can back the event.”

It is only a matter of time before these “new faces in the leadership” will make their debut at the conference and it will be interesting to see how this in turn will effect the economies of the two countries. Considering the reports of Kim Jong-il's bad health, it is more and more likely that the succession will take place shortly. 
 
BBC: http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-asia-pacific-11093216

The Korea Times: http://www.koreatimes.co.kr/www/news/nation/2010/09/116_72637.html

The Economist: http://www.economist.com/node/16945299