HANOI -- After a train trip through China that covered about 4,500 kilometers (2,790 miles) for about 60 hours, North Korean leader Kim Jong-un arrived in a Vietnamese border station for his high-profile summit with U.S. President Donald Trump.
Kim, clad in a black Mao-style suit, showed up with a nervous expression on his face after a green bulletproof train fitted with black tinted windows glided into the Dong Dang station, with Vietnamese soldiers adorned in ceremonial uniform waiting in silence.
Ceremonial music was played as Vietnamese officials shared greetings and shook hands with Kim, who beamed a smile, walking down the red carpet to his armored car parked in the middle of escort vehicles. Hundreds of Vietnamese citizens waved North Korean and Vietnamese flags together with flower bouquets.
For his 170-kilometer drive to Hanoi, Kim, protected by bodyguards, switched to a black Mercedes limousine parked at the edge of the red carpet stretching out from the train platform. Through a slightly opened window, he stretched out his hand to wave to a cheering crowd as the motorcade slowly gained speed.
Kim used a rented Chinese plane to travel to Singapore for his first summit with Trump in June. His grandfather, Kim Il-sung, who founded North Korea, visited Vietnam in 1958 and 1964 after traveling by train to Beijing, where he flew on a rented plane to Hanoi via the southern Chinese city of Guangzhou.
Trump, who is expected to arrive in Hanoi later in the day, will have a brief one-on-one meeting with Kim and a "social dinner" on Wednesday, the White House said.
Escorted by police patrol cars, armored vehicles and motorbikes, the motorcade revealed itself through a light haze that veiled Hanoi. A crowd of people lined up at the side of empty streets. Some people with smartphones were eager to take shots of the leader from Pyongyang.
When the convoy arrived in the Melia hotel in central Hanoi, bodyguards wearing black suits ran towards Kim's limousine to escort him. Armored vehicles were parked nearby, and armed soldiers and police squads maintained a security blockade around the hotel.