A Japanese daily says North Korean leader Kim Jong-il’s third son and heir apparent secretly visited China last week.

The Asahi Shimbun said Tuesday that Kim Jong-un visited China as his father’s special envoy around Tuesday of last week.

The paper said the younger Kim met with Chinese President Hu Jintao and the head of China's Communist Party International Department, Wang Jiarui.

According to the report, Kim’s delegation told Chinese officials that Kim Jong-un has been named his father’s successor and currently holds a key post in the North’s Workers’ Party of Korea.

Kim’s delegation also expressed strong opposition to the new U.N. resolution sanctioning Pyongyang and conveyed to Chinese officials the North’s intentions to launch efforts to enrich uranium.

The daily said that in response, Chinese President Hu said Pyongyang should suspend plans to conduct additional missile or nuclear tests, urging the North to seek peaceful means to resolve its nuclear standoff.