Kim carries portable toilet to Singapore

Singapore, June 12: North Korean leader Kim Jong-un’s flight to Singapore was a tightly planned maneuver using a decoy to throw attackers off the scent. Three planes took off in North Korea at about an hour’s interval on Sunday — an IL-76, an Air China Boeing 747 and an ancient Ilyushin IL62 – leaving watchers in the dark about which one Kim was on.

One diplomatic source in Singapore said, "Tension was very high in North Korea, hence the secrecy." Kim's own aging Sovietera aircraft carrying Kim's sister Yo-jong and other officials followed later. First to arrive in Singapore was an IL-76 transport plane carrying food and other essentials for Kim as well as his bullet-proof limousine and a portable toilet.

Instead of the Pyongyang-Shanghai Singapore route that takes six-and-a-half hours but passes over sea routes that are more difficult to protect, he flew via Beijing, which took around 10 hours.

An aviation source in China said, “It probably cost a lot of money as well as representing a huge political burden to loan Kim the aircraft.”

– Agencies