Editor’s Note: This article was originally published in Korean on September 19.
President Moon Jae In and Chairman Kim Jong Un visited Mt. Paektu on the final day of their three-day summit, and there are reports that security and military forces, including Kim’s own personal guard, were deployed in numbers in Samjiyon County, Ryanggang Province.
“Kim Jong Un’s personal guard, the Supreme Guard Command, and members of the 4th Battalion (numbering around 350-400 soldiers), 43rd Brigade, and 12th Army Corps, have gathered in Samjiyon,” reported a Ryanggang Province-based source on September 19, noting that many members of the Supreme Guard Command were also at the Samjiyon Airport.
The 12th Army Corps is a new military unit created this year by Kim Jong Un and its headquarters are located in Hyesan, Ryanggang Province. Among the brigades affiliated with the 12th Army Corps, the 43rd Brigade is comprised mostly of soldiers proficient in skiing, andt are skilled in guerilla combat in mountainous regions.
“There [were] special preparations made for electricity and warm water at the General’s [Kim Jong Un] local residence,” the source said, adding that it was possible Kim Jong Un “would be holding a meeting with President Moon at his residence.”
Daily NK reported on September 18 that a North Korea source said that local residents of the area had been mobilized en masse to fix Kim’s residence and nearby roads.
The authorities also reportedly strengthened surveillance over local residents of the area.
“I needed to travel to Samjiyon for business a couple of days ago, but the Ministry of State Security (MSS) questioned me in detail about where I was heading,” said another Ryanggang Province-based source on September 19.
He also noted that reflectors were newly installed on the road leading from Hyesan to Samjiyon.
South Korea’s presidential Blue House spokesman Kim Eui Kyeom said in response to a question from a reporter about why North Korea had proposed the visit, “President Moon has frequently talked about visiting Mt. Paektu and said several times that he wants to visit the mountain in North Korea. North Korea probably knew that.”
Some analysts, however, have suggested that North Korea’s proposal for the two leaders to visit Mt. Paektu will be used for domestic propaganda to prop up the regime. North Korea calls Mt. Paektu the “holy mountain of the sun.”
Kang Dong Hwan, a professor at Dong-A University, told Daily NK that “Chairman Kim Jong Un has gone up Mt. Paektu every time he wants to consolidate support for the regime.”
“Just showing that the two leaders went to the “holy site of the revolution” and the “holy mountain of the sun” is good propaganda, so North Koreans will likely place significant meaning on this event,” he said.
