Kim Jong Un’s love of flying appears to be fading, as another of the North Korean leader’s private airports near one of his mansion compounds was destroyed in recent months, according to a new NK News analysis of satellite imagery. 

Kim appeared to suddenly become interested in flying small planes to his various mansion compounds around the country in 2014, as he had at least four small private runways built in the span of a year.

Two of the private runways in Wonsan and Sinchon were then destroyed just a few years later, in late 2019, to make way for brand new horse tracks built in their place. Kim and his inner circle apparently wanted to relax in luxury while practicing their ascent to the “holy” Mount Paektu on horseback that winter for a propaganda photo-op.

Since the removal of the runway near the Kim family’s Myohyangsan mansion complex in early May 2021, nothing has been built in its place. The patch of land, squeezed between a mountain stream and Kim’s private train station, may be too narrow for another horse track.

There were no other changes evident at the Myohyangsan mountainside mansions nearby the runway as of late June. A helicopter pad built at the top of the mountain at the same time as the airfield in 2014-2015 remains in place, meaning the compound is still accessible via a short helicopter trip from Pyongyang.

Only one of Kim’s private 500-meter-long (1,640 feet) runways was known to still be intact as of late June — at Kim’s Changsong compound in the north near the Chinese border. North Korea recently decommissioned the larger commercial airport nearby, meaning the private runway may be the only alternative to a long train ride should Kim wish to visit his Changsong mansions.

CHANGING TASTES

It is unclear why Kim decided to get rid of the airfield at Myohyangsan. The airport may have provided limited utility, or the North Korean leader may no longer want to travel the country via small propeller planes.

Of North Korea’s known collection of aircraft, Kim could have been flying small propeller or turboprop planes that the country imported in breach of sanctions from the U.S., Italy and New Zealand around the time that the four private airports were built. The runways were all too small to facilitate jet aircraft.

At the height of his apparently new obsession with flying in 2015, state media even claimed Kim could pilot a domestic-made propeller plane and other aircraft, and official video purported to show him flying them.

It is not known if or how often Kim Jong Un ended up using the four new private airports, but at least three of them — in Wonsan, Changsong and Myohyangsan — were carefully maintained and cleared of snow every winter, including the latter two this past winter. 

However, the Myohyangsan runway was never fitted with a garage like those at Wonsan and Changsong, so it may not have been as important. The Sinchon mansion runway appeared incomplete after it showed up in 2015 and may have never been finished before it was demolished in 2019.

Regardless of their usage, the rapid construction and demolition of the private airports underscores the luxurious lifestyle the North Korean leader has maintained over the years and his continuing interest in making changes at his various mansion compounds.

The runway demolition in May follows upgrades to another mansion compound on the east coast in April and consistent activity at his Wonsan mansion that suggests he may have been staying there lately.  

Edited by Bryan Betts