Kim Jong-un wants to be 'normal' leader

North Korean leader Kim Jong-un steps out of his private jet, Chammae-1, in Dalian, China, May 7. / Korean Central News Agency

Kim is first North Korean leader to travel abroad on plane since 1986

By Yi Whan-woo

North Korean leader Kim Jong-un is believed to be speeding efforts to make his country appear as a “normal state” in line with his move to dismantle its nuclear program.

For decades, North Korean leaders, amid rumors that they feared being assassinated, did not use planes when visiting abroad until Kim flew on his private jet, Chammae-1, to meet Chinese President Xi Jinping in Dalian, China from May 7 to 8.

This was the second summit between Kim and Xi.

Kim traveled by train when he met Xi in Beijing in March.

Kim is also scheduled to fly to Singapore in June for an historic summit with U.S. President Donald Trump.

“His air travel may be aimed at showing he is a confident, normal leader who meets international standards,” a source familiar with Pyongyang said.

Before Kim’s Dalian trip, no North Korean leader had publicly gone abroad by air since Kim’s late grandfather and the country’s founder Kim Il-sung, flew to the Soviet Union in 1986.

Kim’s late father Kim Jong-il last flew by plane with Kim Il-sung to a conference in Indonesia in 1965.

During his rule from 1994 to 2011, Kim Jong-il used only trains on dozens of overseas trips, mostly to China, as well as countless inspections of military posts, factories and other places.

He had several luxurious trains equipped with reception halls, conference rooms and high-tech communication facilities. To guard against possible attacks, his train reportedly traveled with two other trains, with one running ahead of his to check the safety of the rail line while another carried security agents and followed behind.

After Kim Jong-un took power, Pyongyang’s state media outlets released photos of him looking out the windows of Chammae-1, walking down the stairs from the plane, and walking with his wife, Ri Sol-ju on a red carpet placed on an airstrip when he attended combat aeronautics contests and inspected construction work in Pyongyang.

North Korean leader Kim Jong-un, second from left, joins a welcome banquet hosted by Chinese President Xi Jinping, third from left, in Dalian, China, May 8. / Korean Central News Agency

Another source said the banquet between Kim and Xi and their stroll on a beachfront sidewalk in Dalian were also aimed at making Kim appear as leader of a “normal state.”

The third source said unifying the time zone between Seoul and Pyongyang this month was another attempt to make North Korea appear normal.

The reclusive state turned back the clock 30 minutes and created its own time zone in August 2015 to mark the Korean Peninsula’s liberation from Japanese rule and to spite the “wicked Japanese imperialists.”

During a summit with President Moon Jae-in on April 27, Kim then promised to unify the time zone with Seoul again from May 5.

“I feel sad to see that there are two clocks hung on the wall of the Peace House, one for Seoul time and the other for Pyongyang time,” Kim said then. “Because it is us who changed the time standard, we will return to the original one. You can make it public.”

Clocks at Gaeseong Industrial Complex’s liaison office in Seoul show the unified time used by the two Koreas, May 8. / Yonhap

On May 8, the North Korean authorities called South Korean officials through the liaison office at the truce village of Panmunjeom under a unified time.

“This appears to be a follow-up on the North’s announcement to return to the unified time zone effective on May 5,” a South Korean official said. “Now we see an end to the abnormal situations that have been caused by the difference in standard times.”

Asked if there was a “meaningful” message the North conveyed through the latest communication, the official said he had no information on that.