10. Kim Jong-Il walked away from a helicopter crash, an event that would cause him to suffer from a life-long fear of flying
In 2001, the North Korean leader Kim Jong-Il paid a formal visit to Russia. The journey to Moscow took him an incredible 24 days to complete. The reason? The leader ordered that he be taken by train. The epic journey led to intense speculation that, for all his bravado, Kim was suffering from an extreme fear of flying. And, while many rumors about the North Korean leadership have been nothing more than hearsay and urban legend, this one was completely true. Kim was scared stiff of flying.
According to one account, Kim Jong-il was involved in a serious helicopter back in 1976. The crash left him not only with a noticeable physical scar but with a mental scar, too. Above all, it put him off flying for life. From then on, he would travel only by road or rail. Even when he became leader himself, taking over the country from his father, Kim Jong-il insisted on traveling by train, no matter how far he needed to travel. But he didn’t just travel by train. Instead, the dictator had his own personal fleet of six heavily-armored trains, as well as his own network of private and secure stations. For safety reasons, it’s believed that the leader’s trains were restricted to just 60kmph, which explains the amount of time needed to travel to Moscow.
Interestingly, while he might have inherited many things from his father, including his desire to rule alone, the current North Korean leader Kim Jong-un does not share his predecessor’s fear of flying. Indeed, he has been photographed stepping out of planes smiling, with some observers speculating that he has been keen to portray himself as free from fears and phobias as he looks to strengthen his grip on the country. At the same time, however, Kim Jong-un does still use his father’s secure and luxurious trains, traveling in one to China for historic talks just a couple of years ago.