Train possibly owned by North Korean leader spotted in resort town: Think tank
26 April, 2020
A particular train possibly owned by North Korean leader Kim Jong Un was spotted this week at a resort town in the united states, according to satellite images reviewed by a Washington-based North Korea monitoring project, amid conflicting reports about Kim's health insurance and whereabouts.
The monitoring project, 38 North, said in its report on Saturday (Apr 25) that the train was parked at the "leadership station" in Wonsan on Apr 21 and Apr 23. The station is reserved for the utilization of the Kim family, it said.
Though the group said it had been probably Kim Jong Un's train, Reuters is not able to confirm that independently, or whether he was in Wonsan.
"The train's presence will not prove the whereabouts of the North Korean leader or indicate anything about his health nonetheless it does lend weight to reports that Kim is residing at at the very top area on the country's eastern coast," the report said.
Speculation about Kim's health first arose due to his absence from the anniversary of the birthday of North Korea's founding father and Kim's grandfather, Kim Il Sung, on Apr 15.
North Korea's state media last reported on Kim's whereabouts when he presided over a gathering on Apr 11.
China has dispatched a team to North Korea including medical authorities to advise on Kim Jong Un, according to three persons familiar with the problem.
A third-generation hereditary leader who found power after his father's death in 2011, Kim does not have any clear successor in a nuclear-armed country, which could present major international risk.
On Thursday, US President Donald Trump downplayed reports that Kim was ill. "I believe the report was incorrect," Trump told reporters, but he declined to say if he had experienced touch with North Korean officials.
Trump has met Kim 3 x so that they can persuade him to give up a nuclear weapons program that threatens america and its Asian neighbours. While talks have stalled, Trump has continued to hail Kim as a pal.
REPORTS AND CONTROLS
Reporting from inside North Korea is notoriously difficult because of tight controls on information.
A Trump administration official said continuing days of North Korean media silence on Kim's whereabouts had heightened concerns about his condition, and that information remained scant from a country US intelligence has long regarded as a "black box."
The US State Department did not immediately react to questions about the problem on Saturday.
Daily NK, a Seoul-based website that reports on North Korea, cited one unnamed source in North Korea on Monday as saying that Kim had undergone treatment in the resort county of Hyangsan north of the administrative centre Pyongyang.
It said that Kim was recovering after undergoing a cardiovascular procedure on Apr 12.
Since that time, multiple South Korean media reports have cited unnamed sources this week saying that Kim could possibly be staying in the Wonsan area.
On Friday, local news agency Newsis cited South Korean intelligence sources as reporting a special train for Kim's use have been observed in Wonsan, while Kim's private plane remained in Pyongyang.
Newsis reported Kim could be sheltering from COVID-19, the respiratory disease caused by the novel coronavirus.
Kim, thought to be 36, has disappeared from coverage in North Korean state media before. In 2014, he vanished for greater than a month and North Korean state TV later showed him walking with a limp.
Speculation about his health has been fanned by his heavy smoking, apparent weight gain since taking power and family history of cardiovascular problems.
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