The approximately 250-meter long train, specially reserved for the Kim family, was not present on April 15 but was present on both April 21 and 23, according to reports.
Amid speculations that the Supreme Leader of North Korea, Kim Jong-un, is in poor health, new satellite imagery from the country has emerged which shed some light on the leader's whereabouts. According to a report by '38 North', the North Korea observation center at the Washington-based Henry L. Stimson Centre, the recent satellite images show that a train, belonging to Kim Jon-un, remains parked near the Wonsan compound of the Supreme Leader, since at least April 21.
World media has been rife with floating reports that suggest that the North Korean leader is in "grave danger" after undergoing a cardiovascular procedure at a hospital on April 12. A report by a Seoul-based publication, Daily NK, citing unidentified sources inside North Korea, also stated that Kim Jong-un is now recovering at a villa in the Mount Kumgang resort county of Hyangsan on the east coast.
Now, what do the recently revealed satellite images, showing the train parked at the Leadership Railway Station, servicing the Supreme Leader's compound, prove? According to 38 North, "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 approximately 250-meter long train, specially reserved for the Kim family, was not present on April 15 but was present on both April 21 and 23, according to the website. So it can be deduced that the train arrived at the station sometime before April 21 and was repositioned for departure on April 23 but it still hasn't left.
Earlier this week, several South Korean media reports corroborated that the speculations over Kim's supposed "grave health" conditions were fueled by the fact that the North Korean leader was absent from a key anniversary event earlier this month.
Speculation has been rife about what happened to Kim since he apparently skipped an annual visit to the Kumsusan Palace of the Sun on the occasion of the 108th birthday of his late grandfather and state founder Kim Il-sung on April 15.
Kim was last seen on April 11 in state media reports presiding over a political bureau meeting of the ruling Workers` Party, calling for "strict national countermeasures to thoroughly check the infiltration of the virus".
Reporting from inside North Korea is notoriously difficult, especially on matters concerning the country's leadership, given tight controls on information. Credible information about North Korea and especially its leadership is difficult to obtain, and even intelligence agencies have been wrong about its inner workings in the past.
Kim Jong-un took over as the Supreme Leader of North Korea after his father and late leader Kim Jong-il died in late 2011.
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 "A special train possibly belonging to Kim Jong-un in a satellite image of Wonsan")
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