New high for Kim Jong-Un: scales North Korea’s tallest mountain Mt Paektu

North Korean leader Kim Jong-Un visits Korean People's Army pilots who have completed a tour of battle sites in the area of Mt Paektu, in this undated photo released by North Korea's Korean Central News Agency (KCNA). (Source: Reuters)

The 2,750-metre peak of the volcanic mountain, lying on the border with China, is considered a sacred place in Korean folklore and plays a central role in the propaganda glorifying the Kim family. (Source: Reuters)

"Climbing Mt. Paektu provides precious mental pabulum more powerful than any kind of nuclear weapon," the Rodong newspaper quoted Kim as saying. (Source: Reuters)

Military personnel cheer during a visit by North Korean leader Kim Jong-Un. (Source: Reuters)

Kim, who took over after the death of his father in 2011, seeks seemingly impossible policy goals of improving the economy and developing the atomic arsenal simultaneously. (Source: Reuters)

Kim, like his predecessors, has made frequent "field guidance trips" to industrial plants, army bases, and sacred sites across the country in what analysts say is an attempt at forging an image as an energetic man of the people. (Source: Reuters)

A general view of a visit by North Korean leader Kim Jong Un to Korean People's Army pilots who have completed a tour of battle sites in the area of Mt Paektu. (Source: Reuters)