Japanese and US media have reported that Kim Jong Un has traveled to Beijing, in what would be his first trip abroad since coming to power. Some believe he may have sent a special envoy instead, possibly his sister.
Image: picture-alliance/AP Photo/Wong Maye-E
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Media reports have speculated that North Korean leader Kim Jong Un has traveled to China on his first foreign visit since assuming power in 2011. Earlier, Japanese media reported that a high-ranking official from Pyongyang had traveled to Beijing by train.
Nippon News Network had aired footage of a 21-car train with green paint and yellow stripes, the same design of train used by Kim's father Kim Jong Il when he last visited China in 2011.
Heightened security measures were in place all around Beijing, and Tiananmen Square was cleared of people — something that usually happens only when Chinese leaders are meeting foreign heads of state in the Great Hall of the People. Changan Avenue, a major artery in the capital, was also closed off.
The train looked very much like the one used by Kim's father, Kim Jong Il, seen here in 2010Image: picture alliance/dpa/kyodo
But was it Kim?
A Chinese Foreign Ministry spokeswoman told the press she was unaware of reports that Kim was visiting Beijing, while North Korea’s state-run media has carried no reports of a delegation traveling to China. White House spokesman Raj Shah, meanwhile, said the US could not confirm reports that Kim was visiting China.
South Korean analysts were doubtful the visitor was Kim Jong Un, suggesting it was unlikely he would sneak into China for his first face-to-face meetings with the Chinese leadership. One expert said it was more likely Kim had sent a special envoy, possibly his sister Kim Yo Jong.
The envoy could potentially seek Chinese commitment for future support, should North Korea’s talks with rivals fall through, Du Hyeogn Cha, a visiting scholar at Seoul's Asan Institute for Policy Studies told The Associated Press.
China has long been the isolated nation's closest supporter. However, ties have become strained after Beijing backed United Nations sanctions against North Korea for its missile program.
The Kim family has ruled North Korea for the last seven decades, with state-run propaganda praising Kim Il Sung, Kim Jong Il, and Kim Jong Un as godlike figures. DW looks at the rulers behind the myths.
Image: picture alliance / dpa
A young leader
Kim Il Sung, the first and "eternal" president of North Korea, took power in 1948 with the support of the Soviet Union. The official calendar in North Korea begins with his birth year, 1912, designating it "Juche 1" after the state's Juche ideology. He was 41 when, as shown here, he signed the 1953 armistice that effectively ended the Korean War.
Image: picture-alliance/dpa
Hero worship
In the years and decades after the war, Pyongyang's propaganda machine worked hard to weave a mythical narrative around Kim Il Sung. His childhood and the time he spent fighting Japanese troops in the 1930s were embellished to portray him as an unrivaled military and political genius.
At the 1980 party congress, Kim announced he would be succeeded by his son, Kim Jong Il.
Image: picture-alliance/AP Photo
Ruling to the end
In 1992, Kim Il Sung started writing and publishing his memoirs, entitled "Reminiscences: With the Century." Describing his childhood, the North Korean leader claims that he first joined an anti-Japanese rally at 6 years old and became involved with the independence struggle at 8.
The memoirs remained unfinished at Kim Il Sung's death in 1994.
Image: Getty Images/AFP/JIJI Press
In his father's footsteps
After spending years in the top tiers of the regime, Kim Jong Il took power after his father's death. Kim Jong Il's 16-year rule was marked by famine and economic crisis in an already impoverished country. However, the cult of personality surrounding him and his father, Kim Il Sung, grew even stronger.
Image: Getty Images/AFP/KCNA via Korean News Service
Rising star
Historians outside North Korea believe Kim Jong Il was born in a military camp in eastern Russia, most likely in 1941. However, the leader's official biography claims it happened on the sacred Korean mountain Paektu, exactly 30 years after his father, on April 15, 1942. A North Korean legend says the birth was blessed by a new star and a double rainbow.
Image: picture-alliance/AP Photo
Family trouble
Kim Jong Il had three sons and two daughters with three different women. This 1981 photo shows Kim Jong Il sitting besides his son Kim Jong Nam, with his sister-in-law and her two children in the background. Kim Jong Nam was eventually assassinated in 2017.
Image: picture-alliance/dpa
Grooming a successor
In 2009, Western media reported that Kim Jong Il had picked his youngest son, Kim Jong Un, to take over as the head of the regime. The two appeared together at a military parade on 2010, a year before Kim Jong Il passed away.
Image: picture-alliance/AP Photo/V. Yu
Together
According to Pyongyang, the death of Kim Jong Il in 2011 was marked by a series of mysterious events. State media reported that ice snapped loudly at a lake on the Paektu mountain during a sudden snowstorm, with a glowing message appearing on the rocks.
After Kim Jong Il's death, a 22-meter (72-foot) statue of him was erected next to the one of his father (l.) in Pyongyang.
Image: picture-alliance/dpa
Mysterious past
Kim Jong Un mostly stayed out of the spotlight before his ascent to power. His exact age is disputed, but he is believed to have been born between 1982 and 1984. He was reportedly educated in Switzerland. In 2013, he surprised the world by meeting with former NBA star Dennis Rodman in Pyongyang.
Image: picture-alliance/dpa
A new cult
Like the leaders before him, Kim Jong Un is hallowed by the state's totalitarian regime. In 2015, South Korean media reported about a new teacher's manual in the North that claimed Kim Jong Un could drive at the age of 3. In 2017, state media said that a monument to the young leader would be build on Mount Paektu.
Image: picture alliance/dpa/Kctv
A Kim with a hydrogen bomb
Altough Kim took power at a younger age and with less of a public profile than his father and grandfather, he has managed to maintain his grip on power. The assassination of his half-brother Kim Jong Nam in 2017 served to cement his reputation abroad as a merciless dictator. The North Korean leader has also vastly expanded the country's nuclear arsenal.
