China’s Xi Jinping is staying at a state guest house in North Korea which has become the country’s newest and most exclusive residence for foreign leaders. Mr Xi is on a two-day state visit to North Korea.
The Kumsusan state guest house, the secluded and ultra-luxurious residence, was constructed in 2019 and is housed near the compounds of Kumsusan Palace of the Sun in the North Korean capital of Pyongyang.
The Palace of the Sun is said to be a sacred political site which houses the preserved remains of the hermit country’s founding leader, Kim Il Sung, and his son and successor, Kim Jong Il. It is also one of the country’s most important political and ceremonial locations.
open image in galleryKumsusan state guest house first came into the limelight during Mr Xi’s visit to North Korea in 2019.
Satellite imagery from the time, which was analysed by researchers, showed the complex was built at an unusually rapid pace, with construction taking place between February and May 2019 ahead of the high-profile visit by Mr Xi.
The Kumsusan guest house appears to have replaced the older state guest house as the country’s premier accommodation for heads of state. Before the new Kumsusan state guest house was built, North Korea typically accommodated visiting foreign leaders at the Paekhwawon Guest House, a luxury compound completed in 1983.
The residence hosted a number of high-profile visitors over the years, including former Chinese presidents Jiang Zemin and Hu Jintao during their trips to Pyongyang, as well as former US president Jimmy Carter.
open image in galleryReports based on satellite imagery indicate that the guest house compound includes several large residences, landscaped gardens, security facilities and other luxury amenities designed to host senior foreign dignitaries. As per the images, there is a helicopter airfield just south of the Kumsusan state guesthouse. The other state guesthouse, the Paekhwawon guesthouse, is also to the south of the new elite address for foreign leaders.
Several high-profile dignitaries, among them South Korean president Moon Jae-in, Cuban president Miguel Diaz-Canel, and US secretary of state Mike Pompeo, have stayed in Paekhwawon guest house during their visits to North Korea.
open image in galleryNK News reported, based on recent satellite imagery, that a new mansion complex was built entirely since February this year just next to the Kumsusan Palace of the Sun – suggesting this may be the location of the Kumsusan guesthouse.
The secluded guest house is reportedly situated within one of Pyongyang’s most tightly controlled government zones, an area home to key state institutions and residences reserved for the country’s leadership.
While North Korea has never publicly revealed the exact location of the state guest house, satellite imagery has suggested that it is located near the Kumsusan Palace complex in Pyongyang’s highly-secured Taesong district.
open image in gallerySince its completion, the Kumsusan guesthouse has reportedly hosted only a select number of world leaders. Among those said to have stayed there are Mr Xi, Russian president Vladimir Putin in 2024, and Belarusian leader Alexander Lukashenko, who visited North Korea this year in March.
Recent satellite imagery has also suggested that North Korea has continued expanding the wider compound of the guesthouse with additional villas and hotel-style buildings.
In April this year, images from Planet Labs suggested that North Korea is expanding the Kumsusan guesthouse complex to accommodate a larger number of high-level foreign visitors.
open image in galleryResearchers identified two newly built seven-storey hotel-style buildings, each potentially containing more than 100 rooms, along with a separate mansion-like structure and landscaped ponds within the guesthouse compound. Each of these mansions is reported to cover approximately 130,000 to 140,000 square feet. Satellite imagery also indicated that one of the new mansions may include an underground parking facility.
After their June 2024 summit, Mr Kim was photographed with Mr Putin walking beneath a rose-covered arch in the gardens of the Kumsusan state guesthouse, offering a rare glimpse of the compound.
Experts at the time speculated that Pyongyang was preparing to host a major international gathering, either involving delegations from multiple countries or a large contingent from a single nation for a high-profile meeting with North Korean leader Kim Jong Un.
open image in galleryNK News said one possibility raised by analysts is that the facilities could be intended to accommodate large groups of Russian and North Korean military personnel involved in the countries’ growing cooperation amid Russia’s war in Ukraine.
During the Covid-19 pandemic, Mr Kim reportedly invited leading musicians to the main guesthouse building for a meet and greet, and the site was later reportedly used to film a music video.