00:00An olive green North Korean train emblazoned with a gold stripe carried leader Kim Jong-un
00:07into China for a grand military parade that President Xi Jinping and Russia's Vladimir
00:13Putin also attended. Since taking power in 2011, Kim has now made nine international trips and
00:21crossed the border into South Korea twice, using his bespoke, bulletproof train for most of his
00:27travel. Let's take a look at what we know about Kim's preferred mode of transport.
00:36A love of locomotives runs in Kim's family. His father and predecessor, Kim Jong-il,
00:43was known to fear flying, limiting his foreign trips to overland journeys to China and Russia
00:48by armored train. In 2001, the elder Kim rode his train from the North Korean capital Pyongyang
00:56to Moscow, a marathon 20,000 kilometer, 12,400 mile, round trip that took about 24 days.
01:05The train was well stocked, however, with fresh lobster and cases of French Bordeaux and Burgundy
01:10red wines, according to an account by a Russian official on board. According to the official
01:16North Korean account, Kim Jong-il was on a train for a field guidance visit in 2011 when he died of a
01:25heart attack. The carriages used by Kim Jong-il and his father, North Korea's founder Kim Il-sung,
01:31are now on display in Pyongyang.
01:38Unlike his father, Kim Jong-un is not afraid of flying. He has taken several trips by air,
01:45including to China and Singapore, and was once depicted by state media at the controls of an
01:51aircraft. But for his latest trip to Beijing, he again chose the train. Pyongyang's Korean
01:59central news agency published photos on 2nd September of a beaming Kim sitting inside a
02:05carriage, apparently en route to Beijing. The North Korean leader was pictured sitting at a wooden desk,
02:11on which was a laptop, ashtray, printer, lamp, and several telephones, in a space furnished with the
02:18national flag and what looked like blue velvet curtains. Foreign Minister Choi Son-hui was seated
02:25beside him, with documents laid out in front of her. Another image showed Kim standing outside the
02:31train smoking a cigarette, with Choi and other officials gathered around him. The train passing
02:37through the countryside makes for a powerful display to the people, a symbolic image of the
02:43leader working long hours on board even late at night. Park Min-ju, a professor at the National
02:49Institute for Unification Education, told AFP. It serves both practical and political purposes, he said.
03:01Kim traveled by train for nine nights and ten days in September 2023 to meet Putin in Russia's Far East.
03:10He also rode the train for about 1,200 kilometers to meet Putin in the Russian city of Vladivostok in
03:18April 2019. In February that year, Kim spent around 60 hours on board to Hanoi, Vietnam for his failed
03:26second summit with U.S. President Donald Trump. Kim has previously visited China four times, traveling by
03:34the train on his first trip in March 2018 and again in January 2019. He flew on his private jet, the Chamei
03:431, for the other two trips in May and June 2018. But he has not publicly used that plane since 2018, and
03:52analysts question its reliability due to its age and maintenance issues.
03:57The Kim's reportedly have several near-identical special trains made by a factory in Pyongyang.
04:07Kim's current edition has bulletproof windows as well as reinforced walls and floors to protect against
04:14explosives, according to analysts. It is said to be able to withstand most artillery shells, really
04:21essentially a fortress. Lim Yul-chul, a professor at the Institute for Far Eastern Studies at South Korea's
04:28Kyung-nam University, told AFP.
04:31I believe it is equipped with the defensive and offensive capabilities to endure virtually any military
04:38battle, he added. Despite being slower than aircraft, experts say the train offers key advantages, including
04:46greater flexibility in situations such as unexpected attacks. A train also allows him to bring along many
04:54aids, as well as even vehicles. And unlike an aircraft that could be shot down, a moving train is far
05:01harder to target, said Park, the other professor.
05:08Choosing the train over a plane is also a calculated strategy. Travelling by train takes a long time, but it
05:15also captures global attention. Ko Yu-hwan, Emeritus Professor of North Korean Studies at the South's Dongguk University,
05:23told AFP. Ahead of major diplomatic events, the world closely tracks his movements, and the prolonged
05:31journey helps keep the spotlight on him, Ko said. Kim was also seen using his armored train domestically
05:38when he visited flood-hit areas in North Pyongan Province last summer. Images released by state media showed
05:45Kim, about to deliver a speech to residents, from a carriage with its doors fully opened, turning it into a
05:51makeshift stage.
Comments