Kim Jong-un Visits Injured Tourists In Hospital

North Korean leader Kim Jong-un has met with China's ambassador and visited a hospital where Chinese tourists were being treated after a deadly bus crash.

The crash on Sunday evening killed 32 tourists two seriously injured. Four North Koreans also died in the accident.

The Rodong Sinmun newspaper, the mouthpiece of the North Korea's ruling party, carried a front-page on Kim's actions, including pictures of him in a doctor's white coat, holding the two survivors' hands as they lay in their hospital beds.

Although such a move might be unsurprising in other countries, it is an unusual portrayal of Kim, who is usually shown presiding over formal meetings or visiting work or army units.

Kim "said that the unexpected accident brought bitter sorrow to his heart and that he couldn't control his grief at the thought of the bereaved families who lost their blood relatives," KCNA reported.

The North Korean leader said his people "take the tragic accident as their own misfortune", it added.

Photos provided by the North Korean government showed Kim meeting with Ambassador Li Jinjun at the hospital and at the Chinese Embassy.

In Beijing, the foreign ministry said a group of officials and five medical experts had arrived in Pyongyang to assist the North in treating the injured and dealing with the aftermath.

They also visited a temporary morgue for the dead to check their identities and express condolences, it said.

North Hwanghae province lies south of Pyongyang and stretches to the border with South Korea. It includes the city of Kaesong, an ancient Korean capital with historical sites and, until recently, a manufacturing complex operated with the South. (AP, AFP)