[2] The residence is located in Kangdong-gun, a suburban county of Pyongyang, around 30 km (19 mi) northeast of Kim Il-sung Square.
According to Kim Jong Il’s former bodyguard Lee Young-kuk there are at least eight North Korean leader's residences outside Pyongyang.
[9] The whole compound is a maximum security area, surrounded by two armored fence lines[10] with guards huts and checkpoints, clearly visible on satellite pictures.
[citation needed] Kim Jong Il's former cook Kenji Fujimoto worked and lived in a guest house within the compound and provided some photographs dated 1989.
[11] Defectors reported that in Hyangmok-ri, not far from the residence and from the Mausoleum of Tangun, Kim Jong Un's birthplace is being built,[12] though he was actually born in Changsong, North Pyongan Province.