On his famous special green train, North Korean leader Kim Jong Un crossed his country’s borders into Russia on Tuesday, marking his first trip abroad in nearly four years.
North Korean state media said on Tuesday that Kim left Pyongyang for Russia on Sunday in his private train, accompanied by senior officials from the weapons department and key military officials.
Earlier photos released by the Korean Central News Agency showed Kim walking a red carpet at the capital’s Pyongyang train station and boarding a green train. Crowds of spectators could be seen cheering and waving flags in the background.
Like his father and grandfather, Kim is known to prefer traveling by train because he dreads traveling by plane.The Washington Post“, which he notes is “an unusual form of transportation for a 21st-century leader.”
Kim’s specially-built train is luxurious, decorated and fully armored, but it moves exceptionally slowly, with a top speed of only 55 miles per hour (about 88 km), according to the newspaper.
However, Kim used a Boeing 747 operated by China Airlines ahead of a high-level diplomatic summit with former US President Donald Trump in 2018.
In 2018, he used a North Korean airliner to make a relatively short trip to the Chinese city of Dalian for a meeting with President Xi Jinping.
Kim’s train has become a symbol of North Korea’s isolation and secrecy, the network says.CNN“.
A small number of people outside the North Korean elite traveled on the North Korean leader’s train, according to the Washington Post.
In a photo released by the North’s Korean Central News Agency on Tuesday, Ri Pyong Chol, the second-in-command of the military, saw Kim on a train traveling to Russia.
Ri has been criticized by the US and the UN for his role in leading the country’s ballistic missile programs as a former head of the arms department. Targeted by sanctions.
The exterior of Kim’s train is painted in distinctive green and yellow colors.
As for the interior, some scenes show glossy white designs, long meeting tables and flat screens.
Other photos show rooms with comfortable red leather chairs.
There may be other luxuries on board.
One account of the North Korean leader’s train ride comes from Russian military commander Konstantin Pulikovsky, who described a trip with Kim across Russia’s Far East in his book “The Orient Express.” You can order any type of food, such as Russian, Chinese, Korean, Japanese or French, as well as many types of wine.
Polikowski also wrote of their enjoyment of listening to young female singers during their train journeys.
A report by South Korean newspaper Chosun Ilbo in 2009, citing intelligence reports, said Kim’s train had 90 cars, some of which were designed to carry cars.
On Tuesday, Kim arrived at Kazan train station in Russia’s far east, where he was greeted by Russian Natural Resources Minister Alexander Kozlov and the governor of a Russian region bordering his country, which is shrouded in intense secrecy.
Video footage released by Russian state television showed Kim smiling as she stepped off a train on a red carpet to be greeted and welcomed by a delegation at a train station in eastern Russia.
Kim is expected to hold a high-profile summit with Putin, with the US warning of an arms deal between the two countries.
Neither Russia nor North Korea has specified when or where the summit will take place.
But Japanese Kyodo News and South Korean media reported that Kim’s train headed north past a junction to the Russian Pacific port of Vladivostok, where Putin was attending a conference, and that he could meet Putin at the Vostochny Cosmodrome.
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