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Kim Jong Un's slow train to China:

Yonhap reported that North Korean leader Kim Jong Un traveled to Beijing by train from Pyongyang on Monday. The slow, but highly specialized form of transportation has been used by the leaders of this reclusive nation for decades.

Experts say it is not known which bulletproof train he took, but he has in the past used bulletproof trains, which offer a more secure and comfortable environment for a large group, including security guards and food, as well as a place where agendas can be discussed before meetings.

Kim, who became leader at the end of 2011, has traveled by train to China, Vietnam and Russia.

What's inside the trains?

Ahn Byung Min, a South Korean expert in North Korean transportation has stated that multiple trains are needed for security.

Ahn explained that these trains each have between 10 and 15 carriages. Some of them are only used by the leader as a bedroom. Others carry medical staff or security guards.

He added that they also have room for Kim's desk, communications equipment and a restaurant. They may even include several carriages to transport two armored Mercedes.

In 2018, a video by North Korean state TV featured Kim with Chinese top officials in a train car with pink couches.

The video showed a carriage that housed Kim's office. It had a desk, a chair and a map on the wall of China and Korea.

State TV footage from 2020 showed Kim on a train, visiting a typhoon hit area. The carriage was decorated with flower-shaped lights and fabric chairs printed in zebra.

In his 2002 book, "Orient Express", Russian official Konstantin Pulikovsky describes a journey of Kim Jong Il's father Kim Jong Un made to Moscow over a period of three weeks.

According to the book, live lobsters and cases of Bordeaux wine and Beaujolais were also flown into that train from Paris.

How does it cross borders?

Ahn explained that when Kim Jong Un traveled to Russia in 2023 to meet with President Vladimir Putin at the summit, the wheel assemblies of the train had to be reconfigured because the rail gauges are different between the two countries.

Kim Han-tae is a former South Korean train engineer and author of a book about North Korea's railroads. While China does not have such a requirement, a Chinese engine pulls the train after it crosses the border because a local train engineer knows the rails system and signals.

According to media images, Kim's special train carriages were usually pulled by DF11Z engines, Chinese-made engines with the China Railway Corporation emblem, and at least three serial numbers.

Ahn noticed that the serial numbers of the engines were either 0001 and 0002, indicating China provided him with engines reserved only for senior officials.

When Kim traveled across China in 2019 to his summit with U.S. president Donald Trump in Vietnam his train was drawn by a locomotive red and yellow emblazoned China's railway logo.

Ahn stated that the train could reach speeds up to 80 km/h (50mph) in China, as opposed to a maximum speed of 45 km/h (28mph) for North Korea.

Who uses the trains?

Kim Il Sung's, Kim's, grandfather, was the North Korean founding leader. He travelled regularly abroad by train during his reign, until his death in 1995.

Kim Jong Il only used trains to travel to Russia three times. This included a 20,000 km journey to Moscow in 2001.

The carriage from his mausoleum is displayed in his train. He was reported to have died of a heart attack late 2011, while riding on one of the trains.

State propaganda has focused on the train as the main vehicle for the Kim family to travel long distances by train in order to meet North Koreans.

State television in 2022 showed Kim Jong Un on what they called an "exhaustive tour by train" of North Korea, inspecting corn crops and promoting a "communist paradise". (Reporting and editing by Frances Kerry, Josh Smith, and Ju-min Park)

(source: Reuters)