The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
Armored mystery train standard for Kim travel
Atrain, nearly as mysterious as principal passenger, pulled into Beijing’s central train station Monday night, fueling speculation that Kim Jong Un, North Korea’s leader, had arrived in the capital for secret talks with his Chinese counterpart.
The train spotted in Beijing — 21 cars painted drab green, their windows tinted to obscure the identities of those on board — bore the hallmarks of the bulletproof private transports preferred by the mistrustful leaders of North Korea.
Both Kim’s father and grandfather, the country’s former leaders, traveled in similar style on rare foreign trips, stoking decades of intrigue and interest about the trains.
While much about Monday’s journey remains amystery, here is what we know about the train:
Bulletproof and slow
Much of what is known about the train comes from intelligence reports, recollections of offifficials permitted to travel on board in previous eras and rare state news media footage.
There are believed to be at least 90 high-security carriages at the leader’s disposal, according to a 2009 South Korea news report that relied on classifified information. According to the report, written during the era of Kim’s father, Kim Jong Il, three trains operate each time the leader travels: an advance security train, the leader’s train and a third carrying additional bodyguards and supplies.
Each of the carriages is bulletproof, making them thousands of pounds heavier thanaverage. That additional weight translates to a slow ride. The trains are estimated to reach a maximum speed of just 37 mph.
In Kim Jong Il’s time, according to the 2009 report, 100 security off iffi ce rs traveled in advance train, searching stations for bombs and other threats and testing the safety of the track. Additionally, military helicopters airplanes would fl fl fl fl fl fly overhead to provide more security.
Twenty train stations have been built across North Korea just for the leader’s personal use, according to the report.
Specialized cars
North Korea’s state news media has occasionally covered the leaders from inside the train, off ff ff ff ff ff erin ga rare glimpse at some of the many specialized cars.
In 2015, Kim Jong Un was seen seated at a long white table in what appeared to be a conference room. In a similar video from2011, his father, Kim Jong Il, is seen holding court in the same venue. In the older video, a flat-screen television is clearly visible, and in the more recent one a laptop computer is seen. In footage of the elder
trips, leader is seen in an audience car with plush seats, leading ameeting in a dining car and attending a banquet in a car paneled in dark wood. In that footage, seated at a table
with food as entertainers perform in tuxedos and evening gowns.
The former leader’s offiffice car, including a desk and computer, is preserved as a museum exhibit at the Kumsusan Palace of the Sun,
Il’s mausoleum in Pyongyang, the North Korean capital.
Lobster and wine
Kim Jong Il was rumored to have had a fear of and preferred to travel on his train, which was outfifit
with modern communications technology a large staffff that catered to his whims.
“It was possible to order any dish of Russian, Chinese, Korean, Japanese and French cuisine,” wrote Konstantin Pulikovsky, a Russian offiffi
who traveled with the former leader during a 2011 trip through Russia.
Kim insisted that live lobster and other fresh delicacies be delivered to the train as it crossed Siberia on trips to Russia. of Bordeaux and Burgundy wines were flown in from Pulikovsky recounted.
When bored, Kim relied on a group of female tainers known as lady conductors to serenade him in Korean Russian.