Speculation is mounting that Kim Jong Il will visit Vietnam after the end of the Beijing Olympic Games. The speculation was reported by Radio Free Asia (RFA) from a Vietnamese source on the 26th.

The suggestion is supported by the fact that North Korea’s Foreign Minister Pak Ui Chun visited Vietnam after attending an ASEAN Regional Forum in Singapore.

During his two-day trip to Vietnam on July 26 and 27, Park was expected to discuss issues such as Vietnamese food assistance to North Korea, and the possible visit to Vietnam by Kim Jong Il.

The Vietnamese source expected that Kim Jong Il would be visiting Vietnam after the end of the Beijing Olympic Games.

If Kim Jong Il visits Vietnam at a time when the U.S. is rushing to remove North Korea from its list of terrorism sponsoring countries, then that would help him promote his new economic policies to the outside world, policies which are scheduled to be announced on September 9 to mark the 60th anniversary of the founding of the North Korean regime.

In October last year, Kim Jong Il accepted an invitation to visit Vietnam from Vietnam’s Communist Party Chief, Nong Duc Manh, who was then visiting North Korea.

Christopher Hill, U.S. Assistant Secretary of State for East Asian and Pacific Affairs, is also believed to have encouraged the Vietnamese government to invite Kim Jong Il when he was visiting Vietnam early this year.

However, Yonhap News reported on the 27th that Ma Cheol Soo, North Korean ambassador to Vietnam, said that “I haven’t heard about it,” and the Japanese news agency Kyodo News also released on the 26th a quotation from a Vietnamese high official, “When Park Ui Chun, the North Korean Minister of Foreign Affairs, met Party General Secretary Nong Duc Manh, they did not mention Kim Jong Il visiting.”