GETTY Kim Jong-Un has a secret escape plan incase the US attack North Korea

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The dictator would take only a tiny group of people with him, including his wife and two rocket experts. Details of the secret plan were given to MI5 and the CIA by Thae Yong-ho last year after his defection to the West. The former deputy North Korean ambassador to Britain, once a trusted member of Kim’s inner sanctum, said the dictator would direct his country’s military response from the safety of Chinese soil, close to the Yalu river which marks the border of the two countries.

He would be accompanied by Lieutenant General Kim Rak-gyom, head of rocket forces and rocket scientist Kim Jong-sik. But for reasons unknown the once-favoured former air force General Ri Pyong-chol has been axed from the list. Chinese president Xi Jinping has said he would remain “neutral” if North Korea launched a military attack, but China would stand by the Pyongyang regime if the US struck first.

Kim had two small Cessnalike single-engine planes... which are always fuelled Intelligence source

However, recent comments that both sides should “hit the brakes” on military rhetoric cast doubt on how much support China would actually give to troublesome North Korea. Thae revealed details of the plan during a lengthy debrief in Kent following his defection, before his wife and two children were flown to South Korea through Germany. For his escape, Kim would use one of two small aircraft which are permanently on fully fuelled stand-by.

US and Japanese tanks take part in military exercise - in pictures Mon, August 14, 2017 US and Japanese tanks have taken part in a joint exercise in Eniwa, on the northern island of Hokkaido in Japan as tensions rise over the North Korean nuclear threat Play slideshow REUTERS 1 of 16 Japan's Ground Self Defense Force Type 90 tanks (front) and U.S. Marine Corps LAV-25 Light Armoured Vehicles take part in their joint exercise, named Northern Viper 17

The plane would take off from one of five airstrips close to palaces owned by the supreme leader. Many also border private train stations, which could also form part of any escape plan. One is adjacent to a palace in the port city of Wonsan. The Kim family also has a fortified compound on Wonsan bay, where the ruler entertained NBA basketball star Dennis Rodman in 2013. It boasts a £5.4million yacht, the Princess, moored nearby, and water slides, theme park rides, and a football pitch. Kim said that his wife, 27-year-old Ri Sol-ju, would fly in the second plane along with General Kim Jong-sik.

GETTY The dictator reportedly plans to take a tiny group of people including his wife

Kim’s daughter, Ju-ae, was not discussed, though Thae said the leader “spoke of her often”. His choice of other companions is telling. Rocket scientist Kim Jong-sik, a general in the Munitions Industry Department, is credited with being behind a 2012 rocket that successfully entered a lower Earth orbit. In February he accompanied dictator Kim to a long-range rocket launch site. State television showed him flying in Kim Jong-un’s private plane. He accompanied the young leader down a red carpet and received flowers from other senior officials. Lt General Kim Rak-gyom, head of North Korea’s Strategic Rocket Forces, recently accused US President Donald Trump of “going senile” and “extremely getting on the nerves” of his soldiers.

GETTY Chinese president Xi Jinping said he would stand by North Korea if the US struck first