North Korean leader Kim Jong-un visited China’s technology hub on Tuesday during his surprise trip to Beijing – in a move that’s possibly aligned with his pledge to achieve an economic breakthrough for North Korea.
Kim visited Zhongguancun, a tech nerve center known as China’s Silicon Valley, in Beijing’s Haidian District, according to South Korean TV network MBC.
UPI, in picking up the story, noted Kim’s fascination with technology. Under his rule, North Korea has also made advances into currency-earning schemes, like bitcoin mining.
Kim visited the Beijing-based Chinese Academy of Sciences and tried on virtual reality headsets with his wife, Ri Sol-jul, according to MBC.
Kim isn’t the first member of his family to visit Zhongguancun. His father, Kim Jong-il, visited the hub three times, and North Korean state media played up the visits at the time.
Zhongguancun was founded in 1988 and is home to the headquarters of leading Chinese firms Lenovo, Xiaomi and Baidu.