North Korean leader Kim Jong-il arrived in the eastern Chinese city of Yangzhou Sunday night as part of his visit to the country.

Yangzhou is the hometown of the former Chinese President Jiang Zemin and it also has special ties with late North Korean founder Kim Il-sung.

Observers believe that Kim has included a stop at Yangzhou in his packed schedule in order to meet with Jiang, who has continued to have great influence over Chinese leadership despite his retirement from politics.

By meeting Jiang, Kim is expected to flaunt the two countries' strong bilateral alliance and also solicit his support for North Korea's power succession process. Some reports say the two already met on Sunday.

The North Korean leader's next destination appears to be Shanghai.