In October 2019, North Korea bought 12 purebred horses from Russia with a total value of USD 75,000.
NK News writes about this with reference to trade statistics.
In October and December 2019, North Korean leader Kim Jong-un on a white horse climbed to the top of Mount Paektusan, which is considered sacred in the DPRK.
The leadership of North Korea has long been fond of pedigree horses from Russia, – said Artem Lukin, an expert on international relations at the Far Eastern Federal University.
In 2003, Russian President Vladimir Putin gave Kim Jong-un an Oryol trotter for his birthday, – Lukin recalled. According to him, the horse on which Kim Jong-un climbed Mount Paektusan was brought to North Korea earlier than in October 2019.
The October purchase of thoroughbred horses is not the first. In August 2016, the DPRK bought two animals in Russia with a total value of USD 5,600.
Kim Jong-un’s two campaigns to Paektusan were symbolic: the photographs of the North Korean leader on horseback “were supposed to show the strength of a leader holding tight to the reins of his country.
In addition, the horse trip is a tribute to the memory of the founder of the DPRK, Kim Il Sung, the grandfather of Kim Jong-un, who loved horses and dedicated a whole chapter to his beloved white horse in his memoirs.
Interestingly, for the equestrian training of Kim Jong-un, two of the runways of his personal airport were demolished, they were replaced by tracks.
