Kim Jong-un’s official airplane makes return flight from Vladivostok

An image of North Korean leader Kim Jong-un’s official airplane, the Chammae-1. The Chammae-1 transported Kim’s sister Kim Yo-jong and Kim Yong-nam, President of the Presidium of the Supreme People‘s Assembly of North Korea, when they flew to South Korea for the 2018 Winter Olympics in Pyeongchang, Gangwon Province, on Feb. 9.

Trip a possible rehearsal of Kim’s Russian visit in September

The Chammae-1, an IL-62M that is North Korean leader Kim Jong-un’s official airplane, was confirmed to have made a return flight from Pyongyang to the Russian city of Vladivostok on July 9. (Chammae is the goshawk, which is North Korea’s national bird.) There is speculation that this was a rehearsal for Kim’s possible visit to Vladivostok this coming September.

According to Flightradar24, a website that provides real-time information about the movement of airplanes around the world, Chammae-1 flew across the East Sea to Vladivostok on the morning of July 9, where it remained for about three hours before returning to the North on the same route. Though North Korea’s Air Koryo operates regular flights between Pyongyang and Vladivostok, the flight on Monday was operated separately from that. It was not confirmed whether Kim was aboard the flight.

During a visit to Pyongyang on May 31, Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov communicated a request from Russian President Vladimir Putin for Kim Jong-un to visit Russia. Then on June 14, Putin told Kim Yong-nam, the president of the Presidium of the North Korean Supreme People's Assembly, who visited Moscow for the opening ceremony of the 2018 World Cup, that he hoped Kim would visit Russia during the Eastern Economic Forum, which will be held in Vladivostok in September.

While North Korea’s state-run Korean Central News Agency (KCNA) reported that Lavrov had visited the North and “courteously delivered a personal letter from President Putin,” it made no mention that Putin had invited Kim or of whether this invitation would be accepted. On July 5, a source at the Kremlin confirmed that Putin had made the invitation but that Kim had not yet decided whether to attend.

Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe (left) and Russian President Vladimir Putin during the Eastern Economic Forum in Vladivostok in Sept. 2016. (Yonhap News)

If Kim does attend the Eastern Economic Forum, which is scheduled for Sept. 11-13, it will mark his debut on the stage of international, multilateral diplomacy. Chinese President Xi Jinping and Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe have basically confirmed that they will attend the forum, and South Korean President Moon Jae-in, who made a state visit to Russia on June 21-23, is also mulling over that possibility. If Kim attends, too, it could open the door to a third inter-Korean summit.

The Eastern Economic Forum is a deliberative body that was established in 2015 by Russian President Vladimir Putin to encourage neighboring countries – such as South Korea and Japan – to help develop the Russian Far East. The 2016 session of the forum was attended by former South Korean President Park Geun-hye, while last year’s session was attended by Moon. Russia is very interested in the construction of a Trans-Korea Railway (TKR) that would connect South and North Korea with Vladivostok and in laying a natural gas pipeline between Korea and Russia.

If Kim attends the forum, it would likely afford an opportunity for making progress on these currently stalled Far East development projects slated to link South and North Korea with Russia.

Kim’s attendance at the forum would also be beneficial for Japan. If he does attend, Japan is likely to try to arrange Abe’s first summit with the North Korean leader. Since the North Korea-US summit in Singapore on June 12, Abe has indicated several times that he wants to meet Kim to resolve the issue of Japanese nationals abducted by North Korea, which is one of Abe’s key areas of interest.

　

By Gil Yun-hyung, staff reporter

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