The invitation was extended on Hu's behalf by a senior Chinese official who attended a massive military parade in Pyongyang on Sunday to mark the North Korean ruling party's 65th anniversary, China's Xinhua news agency said.

Hu invited "General Secretary Kim Jong-Il and the comrades of the new central leadership of the DPRK (North Korea) to visit China at a convenient time," Chinese official Zhou Yongkang was quoted as telling Kim.

The parade, one of the largest for years in the hardline communist state, gave many North Koreans their first extensive look at heir apparent Kim Jong-Un, believed to be 27 years old but about whom little is known.

The invitation indicates the transition has received Beijing's blessing, said Shi Yinhong, an expert on China's foreign relations at Renmin University in Beijing.

"The meaning of this is clear. China has accepted North Korea's positioning of Kim Jong-Un as the future top leader," he said.

Jong-Un was catapulted from obscurity into the limelight in late September with promotions to four-star general and to powerful ruling party posts.

A rare live television broadcast of Sunday's event showed father and son standing near each other in a parade viewing area in a further sign of the younger Kim's rise.

Xinhua said Kim and the new leadership were "willing to travel frequently to China" and that the North Korean leader also had invited Hu to visit North Korea in the future.

Kim has already visited China twice this year, the last visit in August seen by many analysts as a bid by the North Korean leader for Chinese support for the dynastic succession.

Beijing fears the collapse of North Korea and resulting instability on its borders and thus provides heavy aid and trade support to its isolated neighbour, experts said.

The impoverished but nuclear-armed nation ostensibly staged Sunday's event to mark the party's 65th anniversary, but it seemed designed to highlight the start of a second dynastic succession process.

Kim Jong-Il took over from his own father and founding president Kim Il-Sung, who died in 1994.

The leader suffered a stroke two years ago and has since apparently speeded up plans to put an eventual successor in place, even though he does not appear in a hurry to step down.

The Swiss-educated Jong-Un remains a mystery to the outside world. Until late September his name had never been carried by official media nor had a photo of him been issued.

The North is locked in a dispute with the West over its nuclear weapons and is struggling to revive its crumbling command economy and feed its 24 million people.

earlier related report
Russia's top nuclear envoy visits Seoul
Seoul (AFP) Oct 11, 2010 - Russia's chief nuclear envoy held talks in Seoul Monday amid efforts to revive long-stalled international nuclear disarmament negotiations with North Korea.

Alexei Borodavkin met his South Korean counterpart Wi Sung-Lac to discuss the six-party talks and currents events on the Korean peninsula, and told reporters he had "fruitful" discussions.

"The task we need to achieve is to alleviate tensions on the Korean peninsula," Borodavkin said.

"Participating parties have conditions for resuming the six-party talks and the conditions must be met to restart the talks."

Borodavkin was also to meet new Foreign Minister Kim Sung-Hwan and deputy foreign minister Kim Jae-Shin during his three-day visit to talk about other issues, a ministry spokesman said.

The six-party forum, aimed at curbing Pyongyang's nuclear ambitions in exchange for aid, is chaired by the communist nation's close ally China and also involves the two Koreas, the United States, Japan and Russia.

Pyongyang bolted the forum in April 2009 and conducted its second nuclear test a month later.

North Korea's intentions still remain unclear with recent satellite images suggesting it may be restoring facilities at its main Yongbyon nuclear reactor, where it produced weapons-grade plutonium.

A senior Seoul presidential aide said last week the North's nuclear programme had reached a "very alarming level".

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