World › Southeast Asia       25.02.2019

North Korean Ruler Kim Jong Un Travels In Armored Train To Vietnam Summit With Trump

North Korea‘s Kim Jong Un, with an armored train heading to the Vietnam Summit to meet Trump.

On a strictly secret route, North Korea's ruler Kim Jong Un is traveling by train to the summit meeting with US President Donald Trump in Vietnam. The journey is almost 4,000 kilometers long.

Donald Trump and Kim Jong Un
Two unusual statesmen, the US President Donald Trump and North Korean ruler Kim Jong Un will meet in Vietnam on 27 and 28 February, this shows how their relationship has developed.

North Korea's ruler Kim Jong Un has left for his second summit meeting with US President Donald Trump in Vietnam. The Korean state news agency KCNA reported that Kim had left the station of the North Korean capital Pyongyang on Saturday after a farewell by an honorary guard. An official photo of the departure showed Kim waving in a door of the special armored-train.

Kim's travel plans have been speculated about for days

The almost 4,000 kilometerjourney to Vietnam could take around 60 hours. On Saturday evening, the green train crossed the border into China in Dandong, as reported by the South Korean news agency Yonhap and the website NK News. However, the route is top secret.

Kim's travel plans had been speculated about for days. His second summit meeting with Trump is scheduled for Wednesday and Thursday in the Vietnamese capital Hanoi. In June last year, the two had met for the first time in Singapore. Before the summit with Trump, Kim will be received in Vietnam for an official state visit, as announced by the Foreign Ministry in Hanoi on Saturday.

According to KCNA, Kim will be accompanied by General Kim Yong Chol, who is considered the right hand of the ruler and who was received by Trump at the White House in Washington in January.

Strict security measures were in place in the evening in the border town of Dandong in northeastern China. Police closed the bridge over the border river and sent an AFP correspondent away. A hotel on the bridge was closed for renovation at short notice. "The train is long and it crossed the bridge slower than the tourist train," an eyewitness NK News said. The windows of the wagons had been darkened, only the headlights were lit when crossing the bridge.

At first it was unclear whether Kim would make a stopover in Beijing. However, there were no increased safety precautions at the station, which indicates that the North Korean ruler will not stop in the Chinese capital at least on the outward journey.

Long train journeys have a long tradition in Kim's family

His father Kim Jong Il and his grandfather Kim Il Sung also used armored trains for their journeys inside and outside North Korea. Kim Jong Il was known for his fear of flying, which limited his travels to overland journeys. His son likes to take the plane when traveling within the country. He also flew to the first summit meeting with Trump in Singapore.

Francis Tawiah (Duisburg - Germany)

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