Kim in 4,000km train trip to Hanoi
North Korean leader Kim Jongun’s armoured train chugged across China on Sunday as he headed to his highly anticipated second summit with US President Donald Trump in Vietnam.
Emulating his late father and grandfather, who took epic train trips when they were leaders, Kim set off on the long journey from the Pyongyang railway station on Saturday, with a military guard of honour seeing him off.
His departure was confirmed by the North’s official KCNA news agency, with images showing citizens cheering him as he waved from the train before what could be a 60-hour journey to Vietnam.
The train crossed the border city of Dandong later that day, according to South Korea’s Yonhap news agency and the specialist outlet NK News, but its route remained a tightly held secret.
The train’s crossing into China follows days of speculation over Kim’s travel plans, as his team gathered in Hanoi ahead of the talks expected on Wednesday and Thursday.
Accompanying the North Korean leader was right-hand man and top general Kim Yong-chol, who met Trump at the White House in January, his sister and close aide Kim Yojong, and other high-ranking officials, KCNA said.
Security was tight before the train’s arrival in Dandong, with police cordoning off the border bridge area with tape and metal barriers, and leading a journalist out of the area.
A hotel facing the bridge was closed for impromptu renovations on Saturday.
Windows on the train were blacked out, the source said, with only headlights turned on as it crossed. The train usually takes 13 hours to reach Beijing, but there were no signs of heightened security around the station on Sunday, indicating the train probably bypassed China’s capital on the nearly 4,000km journey to Vietnam.
Kim has met Chinese President Xi Jinping four times in the past year, briefing his country’s sole major ally before and after his historic summits with Trump and South Korean President Moon Jae-in.
Trump and Kim met in June in Singapore, producing a vaguely worded agreement on denuclearisation, but progress has since stalled, with the two sides disagreeing over what the agreement meant.
Observers say tangible progress is needed in Hanoi to avoid the talks being dismissed as a publicity stunt.
Sources said Kim was expected to arrive in Vietnam by train, stopping at the Dong Dang station near the China border, then driving to Hanoi.
Soldiers were deployed to Dong Dang station and along the road to the capital, according to reporters at the scene.
Vietnam previously announced the unprecedented move of closing that 170km stretch of road on Tuesday between 6am and 2pm, suggesting Kim would pass then.
An AFP reporter on Sunday saw Vietnamese military personnel sweeping for mines.
“Vietnam wants to contribute its part to world peace
. . . at this upcoming summit. Vietnam will ensure maximum security and safety to all the distinguished guests,” Vietnamese Prime Minister Xuan Phuc said on Sunday.
Delegations were preparing for the summit, with Pyongyang’s special representative for the US, Kim Hyok-chol, visiting a Hanoi hotel on Sunday afternoon for talks with his US counterpart, Stephen Biegun, Yonhap reported.
A North Korean cargo plane landed in Hanoi earlier on Sunday, carrying members of the Pyongyang delegation, photographs in the Vietnamese media showed.