The Conversation (0)
News
Kim Jong-un left North Korea for Vietnam for a summit with Donald Trump – and he’s travelling in a bright green train with yellow stripes.
It was spotted crossing the Yalu river into China on Sunday evening, giving some light to the trip, which was filled with mystery.
This will be the second time the North Korean leader will be meeting with the American president, where it is thought they will discuss previous commitments made to denuclearisation and the lifting of sanctions.
Jong-un’s train is the picture of style. It has 21 carriages equipped with all-white conference rooms, dining cars and lavish sleeping quarters.
In fact, some carriages are decked out with pink leather chairs, big-screen TVs and ivory curtains hanging in the windows, Reuters reports.
"His private train for sure has a luxurious interior and good-quality facilities, but it also can travel safely in China, with pretty good rail tracks there," said Ahn Byung-min, a senior analyst at South Korea's government-funded Korea Transport Institute.
The train also has satellite phone connects so he doesn’t miss the news.
The North Korean leader has used the train to travel in times of peace and war. In 2016 state media showed him arriving in Pyongyang station from a satellite launching in Sohae, after a successful testing of a long-range rocket. America said it was an intercontinental ballistic missile.
Nam Sung-wook, a former South Korean intelligence official, said Kim's decision to travel to the summit by train was propaganda.
"Kim Jong Un is already putting on a big show, opting for more than a 60-hour train journey, when he can get to Hanoi in just four hours by flight," Nam told Reuters.
Pageantry is already winning over substance in this summit.
H/T Reuters
More: Jeremy Hunt incorrectly says Slovenia was a former 'Soviet vassal state' during speech in Slovenia
More: Trump Jr may have just hinted he's running for president in 2024 and people are roasting him
Top 100
