North Korean leader Kim Jong-il's tour of a major port in southern China is expected to stimulate the North's development of its ports, economy and trade.

The Hong Kong newspaper Wenhuipo on Monday said Kim's visit to Guangdong Province, where China's economic growth is centered, is clearly aimed to gather information and lessons from Chinese business development.

Another Hong Kong daily, Mingpao, said he looked over Hong Kong from the top of a building managing the port of Yantian in Shenzhen built with foreign capital.

Kim then visited communications giant Shenzhen Huawei Technologies, where he toured an automated assembly line and asked about manufacturing and facilities.