North Korean leader Kim Jong-un has arrived in Russia, after travelling from Pyongyang on his luxury armoured train for a summit with President Vladimir Putin in Vladivostok. The trip marks Kim's first visit abroad in more than four years and the first since the Covid-19 pandemic, the Guardian reported.
Since taking power in 2011, Kim has made seven international trips, and crossed the border into South Korea twice, using his special train for the majority of his overseas travel.
According to a BBC report, Kim spent 20 hours travelling 1,180km (733 miles) on the slow-moving green-and-yellow train, in accordance with a long-standing tradition followed by North Korean leaders.
The train's heavy armoured protection makes it rattle at a speed of about 50km/h (31mph) which is much slower than most modern trains. The mysterious dark green train which has 90 carriages also features tinted windows to obscure the identities of those on board the machine.
The train was well stocked, with fresh lobster and cases of French Bordeaux and Burgundy red wines, according to an account by Russian official Konstantin Pulikovsky, who was also aboard. Apart from that, the train has conference rooms, audience chambers, and bedrooms, with satellite phones and flat-screen televisions installed for briefings.
How safe is it?
Nicknamed the "moving fortress", Kim's current train has bulletproof windows and reinforced walls and floors to protect against explosives, according to Seoul's unification ministry.
"It is equipped with attack weapons and a helicopter for escape in case of emergency," the ministry says, adding that due to the weight of all the extra equipment, the vehicle moves at only around 60 kilometres (37 miles) per hour.
Despite its slowness, the train has key advantages over an aircraft, it said, chiefly offering more flexibility in unforeseen circumstances, including attacks. Were an aircraft with Kim on it to be attacked, "survival chances are significantly reduced", it said.
Tradition of long-distance travel via train
Kim Jong Un's grandfather Kim Il Sung was the one who started the tradition of long-distance travel via train after he started going on train trips to Vietnam and Eastern Europe. Notably, the leader's father and predecessor, Kim Jong Il, was famously scared of flying. He once took his train from Pyongyang to Moscow in 2001, a marathon 20,000-kilometre (12,400-mile) round trip that took about 24 days.
Security agents heavily guard these luxurious trains and scan the routes and stations ahead for bombs and other threats.
Kim Jong Un, the current leader of North Korea, has continued the family tradition and believes the armoured train provides more security and luxury than a flight.
According to an NPR report, he traveled around 4,500 kilometers through China in his train to reach Vietnam to meet President Donald Trump. The journey took two-and-a-half days.
The Kims reportedly have several almost identical special trains made by a factory in Pyongyang.
