The flight from Korea to Vietnam would take about five hours. Nevertheless, North Korean leader Kim Jong Un travels in a bullet-proof move to his second summit with US President Donald Trump. The state-run news agency KCNA released pictures of waving Kim on a special departing train in Pyongyang on Sunday.
It was the first time that the summit was even mentioned in the North Korean media. The focus of the meeting this Wednesday and Thursday in Hanoi should be steps towards North Korea's nuclear disarmament and possible counterparts of Washington.
Kim's train passed through the border with China on Saturday night (local time) near Dandong, previously security forces had blocked the streets around the city's train station, as the South Korean news agency Yonhap reported. Although the start and finish as the crow flies are only about 2900 kilometers apart, the rail track amounts to about 4500 kilometers.
Even Kim Jong Us grandfather traveled with special train
According to South Korean news agency Yonhap, Kim and his entourage are expected Tuesday in the Vietnamese border town of Dong Dang, three days after crossing the Chinese border. From there, the ruler could travel by car to Hanoi.
According to the state media, Kim is accompanied by members of the Politburo and the Central Committee of the Communist Party. Kim's sister, Kim Yo Jong, is also traveling with the ruler's influential advisor attending Singapore's first North Korea summit last June.
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Trains from North Korea: Kim's green giantsNorth Korea's sole rulers are known for their unusual choice of means of transport. Kim Jong Il, Kim's grandfather Kim Il Sung and father Kim Jong Il were on armored trains during their long reign.
Kim made his first official overseas trip to China in March of last year, also by train. However, for the first summit with Trump last June in Singapore, he traveled by plane from Air China.
Kim and his entourage sit in pink leather armchairs in one of the few shots from inside the train in March 2018. The train should be equipped with modern communication technology, a car to transport Kim's armored sedan.
Summit topic: nuclear disarmament
US President Trump wrote on Twitter on Sunday that he and Kim both expected to continue progress in Hanoi from the first summit in Singapore.
Very productive talks yesterday with China on Trade. Will continue today! I want to leave for Hanoi, Vietnam, early tomorrow for a Summit with Kim Jong Un of North Korea, where we are both expected to attend the Summit in Singapore. Denuclearization?
- Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) February 24, 2019At that time Kim had declared his fundamental readiness for "complete denuclearization". But there were no concrete commitments until when North Korea wants to disarm its nuclear and missile arsenal, which many countries perceive as a threat.
Moscow expects concrete agreement from Pyongyang from the meeting between Trump and Kim. The issue now is how the summit could "make practical arrangements with concrete dates, deadlines and obligations," Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov told Vietnamese and Chinese television.
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Trump wants to move North Korea to complete nuclear disarmament. Pyongyang, on the other hand, demands credible security guarantees from Washington and a relaxation of sanctions.
Other summit issues could be food safety and possible economic aid. North Korea has recently asked the United Nations for humanitarian aid because of food shortages.
The food situation in the country was "questionable," said a spokeswoman for Welthungerhilfe of the "Frankfurter Allgemeine Sonntagszeitung". "The government has announced that it will cut the daily ration to 300 grams." That's a halving. Welthungerhilfe wants to collect its own data in the provinces where it operates, writes the newspaper.