N. Korean leader arrives in Vietnam after long train trip across China

By Park Sae-jin Posted : February 26, 2019, 11:53 Updated : February 27, 2019, 22:34

North Korean leader Kin Jong-un steps out of his train after he arrived at a Vietnamese border station on February 26. [Yonhap Photo]


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.
 

A crowd greets North Korean leader Kim Jong-un outside a Vietnamese border station waving flags on February 26. [Yonhap Photo]
 

TV footages showed Kim Yo-jong, the leader's younger sister, peeking outside the train as the carriage moved slightly back and forth to perfectly align the train door with the red carpet.

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.
 

North Korean leader Kim Jong-un waves his hand through the window of his limousine as he heads to Hanoi from a Vietnamese border station on February 26. [Yonhap Photo]


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.

 

North Korean bodyguards run alongside a limousine carrying North Korean leader Kim Jong-un outside a Vietnamese border station on February 26. [Yonhap Photo]


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.
 

Armed soldiers are on guard near their armored vehicles stationed around Melia Hotel in Hanoi on February 26.  [Aju News reporter Yoon Eun-sook]


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.
 
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