The leader, believed to be in his late 20s, recently paid the visit to Sunan International Airport, the main gateway to Pyongyang, without a prior announcement, said the Korean-American who makes frequent business trips to the communist country.
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He said, "I heard from an airline employee while I was waiting for a China-bound flight in the Sunan airport that chairman Kim made an unexpected visit to the airport on July 4 and the visit left airport officials very tense."
The surprise visit was not accompanied by intensive bodyguards or traffic controls, protection measures that usually come with the public appearance of the country's leader, the source said on condition of anonymity.
The source noted the visit, which was stripped of formalities like giving prior notice, traffic restrictions and heavy escorting, may signal changes under the leadership of the young Swiss-educated Kim Jong-un.
"There was a different image of the North that was unimaginable during the time of chairman Kim Jong-il," he said.
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North Korea's media reported that Kim's Sunan airport visit took place on July 5, saying the leader paid it to inspect a reconstruction project underway there. But the report did not elaborate on what happened during the visit or who accompanied him.
The latest simplified public appearance of Kim is interpreted to be in line with an array of formality-stripping-down moves recently taken by the young leader who took over power following the death of his father Kim Jong-il last December.
North Korean media have often aired images of Kim rubbing shoulders with the military rank-and-file during his military inspection visits, including his visit to the Tank Division 105 on the first day of the new year.
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Kim was also shown arm-in-arm with low-rank soldiers and even holding hands or crying with them during his military visit aired by a North Korean television in January.
Experts have often interpreted Kim's such intimacy attempts as efforts to imitate late leader Kim Il-sung, North Korea's all-powerful founding father, whose name still reverberates in the minds of North Koreans.
"I heard that Kim is popular among the youth for his young, foreign-educated and reform-minded image," the source said.
pbr@yna.co.kr
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