Free Republic

North Korean dictator Kim Jong-un is ah-live! Maybe. He sent a message giving his appreciation to people building a complex at his father’s hometown on the border of China although state radio didn’t say anything about the 36-year-old’s health. South Korea’s Yonhap News Agency reported no photos of Kim have been published since his vanishing on April 11th amid speculation heart problems either felled or left him comatose. South Korea’s official stance is Kim remains in the realm of the living. South Korean President Moon Jae-in’s foreign policy adviser sent a statement to American media saying Kim is “alive...

Dictators love their personal trains. Hitler had ‘Amerika’, an armoured beast equipped with anti-aircraft guns, which he used as a mobile headquarters for much of World War II. Mussolini and Stalin both insisted on luxurious bespoke carriages when travelling long distances. Fitting, then, that one of the world’s last old‑fashioned despots should also travel in his own unique version of this tyrant’s status symbol: one that may provide a vital clue as to the whereabouts of this stricken — and possibly deceased — autocrat.

The signature train belonging to North Korean leader Kim Jong Un has been spotted on satellite images parked at a station on the nation's eastern coast since last week, according to a U.S. monitor, as questions swirl over the dictator's health. Since Kim missed an April 15 commemoration of the 108th birthday of his grandfather, North Korea founder Kim Il Sung, unverified reports have emerged about his health. On Sunday, a key aide to the president of South Korea insisted Kim, who is believed to be 36, was "alive and well." "Our government position is firm," Chung-in Moon, foreign policy...