The eldest son of late North Korean leader Kim Jong-Il has been spotted in Beijing almost a month after his father's death, South Korean media reports said Monday.

Kim Jong-Nam was seen by South Koreans waiting at Terminal 3 of Beijing Capital International Airport for an Air China flight to Macau on Saturday afternoon, Chosun Ilbo newspaper and Yonhap news agency reported.

Kim reportedly confirmed his identity to Park Seung-Jun, a professor at Incheon University west of Seoul, and said he usually travels alone.

Asked if he had been surprised by his father's sudden death on December 17, he reportedly replied: "It's only natural". His response to a question about whether he had attended his father's funeral was unclear.

Chosun quoted diplomatic sources in Beijing as saying that Jong-Nam had not attended the elaborate funeral in Pyongyang on December 28.

It said he is a frequent visitor to Beijing, where his first wife and son Kum-Sol, aged 15, live.

Jong-Nam has lived in virtual exile, mainly in the Chinese territory of Macau, for many years after falling out of favour with his father. His younger half-brother Kim Jong-Un has been proclaimed new leader of the communist state.

Jong-Nam last year gave an interview to the Tokyo Shimbun in which he was quoted as saying he opposed the idea of a dynastic power transfer.

Last week the newspaper said Jong-Nam, in an email, had reiterated his opposition to the concept of inherited power.

The eldest son was also quoted as saying that he believes his half-brother would likely be merely a symbol used by ruling elites to maintain their grip on power.

S. Korea envoy leaves for US for three-way talks
Seoul (AFP) Jan 16, 2012 - A senior South Korean diplomat left for Washington Monday for talks with Japanese and US officials to coordinate policy after the sudden death of North Korean leader Kim Jong-Il.

Lim Sung-Nam, chief envoy to stalled six-party negotiations on the North's nuclear disarmament, is making his second trip to Washington since Kim's death on December 17, Seoul's foreign ministry said.

The Tuesday meeting in Washington will group Lim, his Japanese counterpart Shinsuke Sugiyama and Kurt Campbell, the US top diplomat on Asia, a Seoul foreign ministry official said earlier.

"We will exchange opinions on the situation on the Korean peninsula and discuss ways to resume nuclear talks on the North," Yonhap news agency quoted Lim as saying before he departed.

The six-party aid-for-disarmament talks are chaired by China and also involve the two Koreas, Japan, the US and Russia.

The forum has been moribund since Pyongyang stormed out in April 2009 and staged a second nuclear test a month later.

The US and North Korea last year held two rounds of talks aimed at restarting the six-party negotiations.

A third round was reportedly scheduled in Beijing before the announcement of Kim's death put the process on hold. Kim's youngest son Jong-Un has been proclaimed "great successor" to his father.

The North said last week that the US had offered it food aid and a suspension of sanctions if it halts its uranium enrichment programme.

The comments by a foreign ministry spokesman suggested that a deal was still on the cards if the US raised the amount of food it is willing to offer.