Riding the Rails With Kim Jong-Il

Many believe that Kim Jong-il, like his father, has well-founded fears of flying so when it comes to travel he has only a few options – mainly train.

According to this article by our own John Glionna and Barbara Demick, Kim Jong-il travels in paranoid style:

On previous trips [to China], there hasn’t been just one train, but three. South Korean intelligence reports say the mystery entourage has included two dummy trains to confuse any would-be attacker. This time, Kim is reported to have taken only one.

Even within the safe confines (matter of perspective there) of North Korea, Kim takes extraordinary precautions:

On train trips within North Korea, Kim often travels by night to avoid U.S. and South Korean surveillance. The train moves slowly to make sure the tracks are safe.

How slow you ask? Well, according to the Choson Ilbo, the train travels on the average at about 60 kph – pretty slow.

Not only that, but he also has a detachment of 100 security men sent ahead to secure his destination in an effort to thwart any assassination attempts. “Kim’s train also travels with two other trains with the first one running ahead of his to check the safety of railway lines while the second one carries security agents and follows behind…” The Choson Ilbo also noted that

When Kim travels within North Korea aboard his private train, IL-76 air force transport planes, MI-17 helicopters and other aircraft provide security support and haul necessary personnel and equipment to nearby airports…[and] before Kim’s train nears the station, the power on other tracks is shut off so that no other trains can move.

The trains themselves, he has six of them with 90 cars serviced by 20 stations (the Telegraph states there are 19), are armored with dark windows and are virtually rolling hotels:

Kim’s train is equipped with conference rooms, an audience chamber and bedrooms, with a pair of Mercedes-Benzes on standby, not to mention satellite phone connections and flat-screen TVs so the leader can be briefed and issue orders.

In the 2002 book “Orient Express,” Russian official Konstantin Pulikovsky described Kim’s three-week journey to Moscow the previous year.

Cases of Bordeaux and Beaujolais were flown in from Paris, as was live lobster, according to the book. There were also such North Korean specialties as koya, piglet barbecue, and salo, salted and aged pig fat.

Leftovers were boxed up and returned to North Korea.

But food may not be the only pleasures offered when riding the rails with Kim:

Lee Yong-guk, who served in the closest circle of bodyguards for Kim in the 1980s before defecting to the South, told Reuters that North Korean security had mastered the art of camouflage to such a level that a train going north may in fact mean a ship carrying Kim is heading south.

Kim also travels the rails with a few young women who share food, drinks and perhaps a few other things with the man known at home as the “Dear Leader”, Lee said.

For those with an interest in North Korean trains you might want to check out these youtube videos.

Picture credit – Christian Science Monitor.