2023-09-12 11:49:45
The leader of North Korea, Kim Jong-un, made his long trip to Vladivostok, in Russia, to meet with the president of that country, Vladimir Putin, according to the North Korean news agency, KCNA.
According to these reports, the armored train that Kim uses for his visits abroad left Pyongyang on the afternoon of September 10 and arrived in Russia in the last few hours for the visit with Putin.
KCNA broadcast some images of Kim boarding the train, which were shared by a North Korean media. The post said that Kim left Pyongyang to visit the Russian Federation and added that “dear comrade Kim Jong-un” would be accompanied on his trip by “key executives from the party, government and armed forces agencies.”
Meanwhile, the Pentagon also anticipated that it expects “some type of meeting” between Kim and Putin, according to CBS News, the BBC’s American partner.
The two leaders will likely discuss the possibility that North Korea provide Moscow with weapons to support its war in Ukrainea US official told CBS.
This will be the North Korean leader’s first international trip in more than four years and his first since the pandemic. Kim’s last trip abroad was also to Vladivostok, in 2019, for his first summit with Putin after the collapse of North Korea’s nuclear disarmament talks with then-US President Donald Trump. Kim He also made that train trip.
Although at the moment no further details are known about the summit that Kim and Putin will hold, we can provide more information about the characteristics of the railway that took him to the meeting.
Kim’s last trip abroad was also to Vladivostok, in 2019
Kim first used the train in March 2018 to travel to Beijing, China’s capital, in what was his first trip abroad. At that time the train had 21 cars (more than double the number of passenger trains in the US).
But, according to South Korean intelligence reports, the Pyongyang government has up to 90 armored cars at its leader’s disposal. This makes the train much heavier than a normal one and, therefore, the railway is significantly slower. It is estimated that The maximum speed it reaches is 60 kilometers per hour. That is why it takes so long to travel the less than 700 kilometers that separate Pyongyang from Vladivostok.
The train was named Taeyangho, the Korean word for sun, a symbolic reference to North Korea’s founder Kim Il-sung. Testimonies from diplomats who have traveled on the train indicated that some of the cars carried armored cars. The images released by the agencies show that the train is green, with yellow details.
The train has armored glass and maximum security on boardAFP
Classified information revealed by the South Korean press indicates that in all the trips that the South Korean leader makes three trains are used that travel at the same time. One is a security convoy that goes ahead of the main one, in which the leader goes, and a third in which the bodyguards and some supplies are transported.
The security train has up to a hundred agents on board who are in charge of inspecting the tracks and stations through which the railway passes. This way they can detect bombs and avoid explosions and other types of threats.
It is more difficult to have reliable information about the interior, but the few images broadcast by North Korean television can be described, which show meeting rooms, flat screen televisions and laptop computers.
There are also testimonies from people who have been inside. Russian officer Konstantin Pulikovsky, who took a trip aboard the train through Russia with Kim Jong-il – the current leader’s father – in 2011, said that The eating options were endless.. He remembers that he could choose any dish of Russian, Chinese, Korean, Japanese or French origin and that there was a great variety of wines brought directly from Paris. Kim Jong-il even said that inside you could taste everything from fresh lobster to the most varied delicacies from any part of the world.
Kim Jong-il, father of the current North Korean leader, also traveled to Russia aboard the same train in 2011AFP
While most world leaders make their official visits on private planes – for example, the US president uses Air Force One – in North Korea the tradition is to use the train. The exact reasons are unknown, but it is known that Kim Jon-il used the same means of transportation that his son now uses.
According to the American newspaper The New York Times, Kim Jong-il was afraid of flying and that is why he made his few official visits on a train very similar to the one his heir uses today. However, Kim Jong-un’s grandfather and founder of the country, Kim Il-sung, also used the railway to travel within and outside the country.
In accordance with The New York Timesthe central car in which the meetings were held is located in the mausoleum where the remains of Kim Jon-il rest, in the Kumsusan Palace of the Sun, in Pyongyang.
Conocé The Trust Project
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