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By John Pomfret
Washington Post Foreign Service
Friday, June 2, 2000; Page A30

BEIJING, June 1 –– North Korea's leader Kim Jong Il, on his first foreign trip since taking power in the world's most isolated country six years ago, was amazed by computers and hugged repeatedly by his Chinese hosts, and revealed that he had stopped drinking and smoking, China's state-run press said today.

The secluded leader, who sported a bouffant hairdo and a slightly ill-fitting gray Mao suit, left China Tuesday after a two-day trip made in secrecy. In reports issued Wednesday, Chinese media said Kim, 58, and senior Chinese leaders "reached consensus on major issues of common concern in an intimate and friendly atmosphere."

Foreign Ministry spokesman Zhang Qiyue, briefing reporters on the visit, said Kim hailed China's capitalist-style reforms but said Pyongyang is "building Korean-style socialism according to its own situation."

Chinese government sources said the news blackout, in place since Kim arrived in Beijing by train on Monday, had been imposed as a security precaution at the request of North Korea.

The trip, made just two weeks before Kim is supposed to meet his South Korean counterpart, Kim Dae Jung, in a historic summit in Pyongyang, provided the first glimpse of a man who runs one of the world's last hard-line Communist states. It also provided some insight into a leader known for his mercurial temper and his weak physical constitution.

Kim appeared healthy, however, and was shown on China's state-run television news tonight kissing President Jiang Zemin and engaging in an elaborate hug of a nonplussed Hu Jintao, China's vice president.

He expressed fascination during a trip to the Legend Group, China's largest computer manufacturer, in the heart of Beijing's "Silicon Village." Accompanied by a large delegation including his confidante, Gen. Jo Myong Rok, political minister of the Korean Peoples' Army, Kim seemed to take an active part in meetings with his Chinese hosts and showed scant traces of the dour personality for which he is known.

Kim's trip, his first since he took over the country after the death of his father, Kim Il Sung, in 1994, underscored China's continued influence on the isolated regime. China's press reports quoted Jiang as giving his full backing to the upcoming summit with the South Korean president.

China and the United States will keep a close eye on that summit, scheduled for June 12-14. Neither country is interested in a change in the status quo on the Korean peninsula. Reunification would raise many questions for both sides. It would cast doubt on the mission of the more than 30,000 American troops stationed in South Korea and also would probably bring a vibrant, capitalist and democratic society right up to China's border.

However, China is known to be eager for Kim to take steps to improve his country's dismal economy--its failure has resulted in the death of up to 2 million people from starvation and illness since 1995. According to state-run television, China has agreed to provide North Korea with an unspecified quantity of aid.

Relations between Beijing and Pyongyang have been strained since China established ties with South Korea in 1992. Nonetheless, China has won high marks for its participation in the four-party talks with the United States, South and North Korea.

The United States has also asked China to use its influence on North Korea to persuade it to end its missile and nuclear weapons programs.

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