SEOUL, South Korea (AP) – North Korean leader Kim Jong Il has traveled to China on a rare trip outside his country, a South Korean military intelligence official said Tuesday.

The official told The Associated Press he received the information from intelligence inside China. The official spoke on condition his name not be used because of the sensitivity of the information.

“We confirmed he went to China,” the official said. “We don’t know why.”

Kim, who seldom travels abroad, last visited China in April 2004 for a summit with Chinese leaders. North Korea and China, both communist countries, have traditionally had close ties.

Chinese President Hu Jintao visited North Korea in October.

South Korea’s Yonhap news agency reported earlier in a dispatch out of Beijing that the reclusive North Korean leader’s train had crossed the border into northeastern China amid tight security.

The visit comes at a sensitive time for North Korea, which remains at odds with the United States over stalled international talks aimed at getting Pyongyang to abandon its nuclear weapons program.

China is under pressure from the United States and other governments to use its leverage as North Korea’s main ally and aid donor to push Pyongyang for concessions.

North Korea on Monday sent its highest-level signal yet that the nuclear talks are unlikely to resume soon, repeating its demand that the U.S. drop sanctions to end the impasse.

“Under the present situation it is illogical to discuss with the U.S., the assailant, the issue of dismantling the nuclear deterrent built up by the DPRK for self-defense,” an unnamed Foreign Ministry spokesman said in a statement carried by the official Korean Central News Agency.

DPRK refers to the Democratic People’s Republic of Korea, the communist state’s official name.

North Korea and the United States have been engaged since 2003 in multi-party talks aimed at persuading Pyongyang to abandon its nuclear programs. Though the talks also involve China, Japan, South Korea and Russia, their progress is usually determined by the existing level of level of tension between North Korea and Washington.

In September, the United States imposed sanctions on a bank in the Chinese territory of Macau, alleging it helped the North distribute counterfeit currency and engage in other illicit activities.

The next month, Washington sanctioned eight North Korean companies it claimed were fronts for proliferating weapons of mass destruction.

North Korea’s increasing anger comes as U.S. officials have been taking a harder verbal line. Alexander Vershbow, the new U.S. ambassador to Seoul, last month called North Korea’s government a “criminal regime.” On Thursday, his boss, Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice, called it a “dangerous regime.”

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