Some reports suggest that North Korean leader Kim Jong Un is currently on a train to the Russian port city of Vladivostok to meet Russian President Vladimir Putin.
The journeys of the North Korean leader are very different and interesting compared to other world leaders. Although the North Korean rulers only visit a very limited number of places, those trips are quite amazing. The travel characteristics of the North Korean rulers are diverse, such as the former ruler Kim Jong Il, who only traveled long distances by train because he was afraid of flying, and the current ruler Kim Jong Un, who uses only the best luxury vehicles and facilities for his travels.
Reports suggest that the train that Kim Jong Un is currently traveling in is heavily guarded and equipped with luxurious amenities. The luxury train is named Taeyangko, the Korean word for the sun, symbolizing the founder of North Korea, Kim Il Sung. This train has all the amenities better than a luxury hotel for Kim Jong Un as it is a journey that takes days. This train is equipped with amazing facilities like sleeping rooms, conference halls, satellite phones and a restaurant that prepares the best food. The restaurant, which serves fine French wines and dishes including fresh prawns, has been prepared for the North Korean ruler during his Russian trip. Along with this, it is also a bullet proof train with heavy armored protection to provide maximum security. But this train has a speed of only about 50km/h. This is said to be due to the fact that this train travels along an ancient, undeveloped railway line in North Korea.
History has it that in 2001, Kim Jong Il took 10 days to reach Moscow by train and have a meeting with Putin. The Russian military commander Konstantin Pulikovsky, who accompanied him on that trip, describes the luxury he experienced in the Orient Express, a memoir. According to Pulikovsky, the North Korean leader’s train was more luxurious than Russian President Putin’s private train. Pulikovsky recalls that the train journey included an abundance of Russian, Chinese, Korean, Japanese, and French cuisine, the finest wines from Russia, and foods as diverse as prawns, donkey meat, and shellfish. In 2011, Kim Jong Il died of a heart attack while traveling on a train.
Educated at a boarding school in Switzerland, the current ruler, Kim Jong Un, only wants to have luxury, whether it’s a plane, a train or a car. Kim Jong Un often uses a Russian-made private jet for long-distance travel. In 2018, Kim Jong Un traveled to the Chinese city of Dalian to meet Chinese President Xi Jinping on a Soviet-made Ilyushin-62 long-haul plane. Another plane, the Ukrainian Antonov-148, is also used by Kim Jong Un for trips. He uses a private vehicle, a Mercedes-Benz S-Class, for his travels in North Korea. This is a vehicle worth 1.8 million dollars. Although the importation of luxury goods is prohibited in North Korea, some international media have reported that Kim Jong Un owns a luxury yacht worth $7 million. There were also some reports that he had a helipad at his private residence. But since North Korea has not released any more information about them, many of Kim Jong-un’s trips are still shrouded in mystery.
The tradition of traveling by train to neighboring countries begins in North Korea with the grandfather of Kim Jong Un – Kim Il Sung. He used the same special train for his trips to Vietnam and Eastern Europe. A team of experts will conduct safety checks in advance on the railway tracks that this train will pass through. Kim Jong Il, the father of Kim Jong Un and North Korea’s ruler from 1994 until his death in 2011, had a fear of flying. So, like his father, he chose to travel abroad by train.
