SEOUL, South Korea — A train possibly carrying the North Korean leader, Kim Jong-un, entered China on Monday, the South Korean news media reported, stoking speculation of a face-to-face meeting with President Xi Jinping before Mr. Kim’s second summit meeting planned with President Trump.

The train, which appeared to be transporting a senior North Korean official, passed through Dandong, a Chinese city on the border with North Korea, at 10:15 p.m. on Monday, the South Korean news agency Yonhap reported, citing an anonymous source.

The train was expected to pull into Beijing on Tuesday morning, Yonhap said.

Other South Korean news media outlets carried similar reports. South Korea’s Hankyoreh newspaper reported that Mr. Kim planned to arrive in China between late Monday and early Tuesday to hold his fourth summit meeting with Mr. Xi.

Security was strengthened around the train station in Dandong on Monday, and hotels there overlooking the river border refused to accept guests, the South Korean news media reported. The Chinese authorities have taken similar security precautions for previous visits by North Korean leaders.

South Korean and Chinese officials did not immediately comment on the reports.

A visit by Mr. Kim would signal that he was seeking Mr. Xi’s advice or demonstrating his country’s alliance with China as he prepares for another meeting with Mr. Trump. Mr. Kim visited China three times last year to meet with Mr. Xi before and after his historic first summit meeting with Mr. Trump, in Singapore last June.

Such a visit would also provide Mr. Xi with an opportunity to accentuate his country’s leverage over North Korea as China and the United States try to head off a trade war.

In Singapore last June, Mr. Kim and Mr. Trump agreed to work toward “complete denuclearization of the Korean Peninsula” and “new” relations between their countries, which have been wartime enemies for nearly seven decades.

But subsequent talks have since stalled, as a vast gap has emerged over what it takes to achieve “complete denuclearization” of the peninsula.

The United States demanded that North Korea start taking crucial steps toward denuclearization, like declaring the number of its nuclear weapons and other details of its nuclear weapons program for future inspections. But North Korea insists that Washington first build trust by lifting sanctions.

In a New Year’s Day speech, Mr. Kim said he was ready to meet with Mr. Trump anytime, but he warned that if Washington persisted with sanctions, his country might be compelled to “find a new way for defending” its sovereignty and national interests.

Mr. Trump said last week that he had recently received a “great letter” from Mr. Kim, but declined to reveal its contents. On Sunday, he said negotiations were underway on the location of the next summit meeting with Mr. Kim.

“With North Korea, we have a very good dialogue,” he told reporters before boarding a helicopter for the presidential retreat at Camp David, Md., where he said he would be discussing a trade deal with China.

“It will be announced probably in the not too distant future,” Mr. Trump said of a summit meeting with Mr. Kim. “They do want to meet, and we want to meet and we’ll see what happens.”

Mr. Trump said the sanctions against North Korea remained “in full force and effect” and would not be relaxed until the United States saw “very positive” results.

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