Kim Jong Un follows the tradition started by his grandfather Kim Il Sung and continued by his father, Kim Jong Il, avoid air transport, very vulnerable and, instead, travel by trains; in this case a lento, luxurious and equipped armored vehicle in the style of James Bond.
The leader of North Korea used this method to enter Russia on Tuesday, where meet with President Vladimir Putin.
How is Kim Jong Un’s train?
Pyongyang produced many almost identical examples, Kim’s train Fully armored, from the windows to the floor to protect it from gunshots and explosives.
There is also this “assault weapons and a helicopter for emergency cases,” according to information from the South Korean Ministry of Unification.
But, because of all these materials, the train You cannot drive more than 60 km/h.
The train suggests safety conditions Higher than an airplane where “the chances of survival are greatly reduced” in the event of an attack, emphasized the South Korean ministry.
You can come back in case of unforeseen events and their itineraries are “harder to predict” than that of an airline.
To increase security, Pyongyang has requested on other occasions deploy security forces along the route as happened when visiting Hanoi in 2019.
A Russian officer who was on board, Konstantin Pulikovsky, described the beauty of the carriages, in which they served lobster, a type of lobster, and French wine.
How many times has Kim Jong Un left North Korea?
In this armored train traveled to Beijing in 2018 and Hanoi the following year, for a summit with his former US counterpart, Donald Trump. The trip took about 60 hours.
In 2001, his father spent 24 days traveling back and forth from Pyongyang to Moscow, a journey of about 20,000 km.
According to the official version, on board his train that Kim Il-sung died from a heart attack in 2011.
Has Kim ever flown?
Unlike his father, who had a phobia of airplanes, Kim Jong Un did not refuse to fly. There was even a propaganda film where he was seen at the controls of a device in 2014.
The North Korean leader used the plane to travel abroad three times: twice to China and once to travel to Singapore, host a summit with Trump, in 2018.
