As per Washington-based North Korea monitoring project
38 North, a special train possibly belonging to North Korean leader Kim Jong Un
is seen in a satellite image with graphics taken over Wonsan, North Korea April
23, 2020. Image taken April 23, 2020. | Photo Credit: Planet
Labs via Reuters
This comes amid conflicting reports about the North
Korean leader’s health and whereabouts.
A special train possibly belonging to North
Korean leader Kim Jong Un was spotted this week at a resort town in
the country, according to satellite images reviewed by a Washington-based North
Korea monitoring project, amid conflicting reports about Mr. Kim's health and
whereabouts.
The monitoring project, 38 North, said in its
report on Saturday that the train was parked at the “leadership station” in
Wonsan on April 21 and April 23. The station is reserved for the use of the Kim
family, it said.
Though the group said it was probably Kim
Jong Un's train, Reuters has
not been able to confirm that independently, or whether he was in Wonsan.
“The
train's presence does not prove the whereabouts of the North Korean leader or
indicate anything about his health but it does lend weight to reports that Kim
is staying at an elite area on the country's eastern coast,” the report said.
Speculation about Mr. Kim's
health first arose due to his absence from the anniversary of the birthday of
North Korea's founding father and Mr. Kim's grandfather, Kim Il Sung, on April
15.
North
Korea's state media last reported on Mr. Kim's whereabouts when he presided
over a meeting on April 11.
China
has dispatched a team to North Korea including medical experts to advise on Kim
Jong Un, according to three people familiar with the situation.
A
third-generation hereditary leader who came to power after his father's death
in 2011, Kim has no clear successor in a nuclear-armed country, which could
present major international risk.
On
Thursday, U.S. President Donald Trump downplayed reports that Mr. Kim
was ill. “I think the report was incorrect,” Mr. Trump told reporters, but
he declined to say if he had been in touch with North Korean officials.
Mr.
Trump has met Mr. Kim three times in an attempt to persuade him to give up a
nuclear weapons program that threatens the United States as well as its Asian
neighbors. While talks have stalled, Mr. Trump has continued to hail Mr. Kim as
a friend.
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 Mr. Kim's whereabouts had heightened concerns about his condition,
and that information remained scant from a country U.S. intelligence has long
regarded as a ”black box.”
The
U.S. State Department did not immediately respond to questions about the
situation 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 medical treatment in
the resort county of Hyangsan north of the capital Pyongyang.
It
said that Mr. Kim was recovering after undergoing a cardiovascular procedure on
April 12.
Since
then, multiple South Korean media reports have cited unnamed sources this week
saying that Mr. Kim might be staying in the Wonsan area.
On
Friday, local news agency Newsis cited
South Korean intelligence sources as reporting that a special train for Mr.
Kim's use had been seen in Wonsan, while Mr. Kim's private plane remained in
Pyongyang.
Newsis reported Mr.
Kim may be sheltering from COVID-19, the respiratory disease caused
by the novel coronavirus.
Mr.
Kim, believed to be 36, has disappeared from coverage in North Korean state
media before. In 2014, he vanished for more 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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