SEOUL: 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 Kim's health 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 use of the Kim family, it said.
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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.
What is described by Washington-based North Korea monitoring project 38 North as 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 Apr 23, 2020. (Photo: Planet Labs-38 North/Handout via REUTERS)
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.
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North Korea's state media last reported on Kim's whereabouts when he presided over a meeting on Apr 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, US President Donald Trump downplayed reports that Kim was ill. "I think the report was incorrect," Trump told reporters, but he declined to say if he had been in touch with North Korean officials.
Trump has met 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 neighbours. While talks have stalled, Trump has continued to hail 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 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 respond to questions about the situation on Saturday.
READ: Commentary: Imagine a North Korea without Kim Jong Un. Heres why you cant
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 Kim Read More – Source
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