Will Kim take his personal train to Hanoi?

[soryang]

(Source- JTBC News 02.18) North Korea Train No. 1. transit time one way 50 hours. Kim Jong Un's train projected routes.

Kim might take the train to Vietnam, imitating Kim Il Sung's state visit to Hanoi in 1958. This fits in with the underlying monarchical, Confucian, themes permeating North Korea's state controlled society. Needless to say, that photo op would fit in with domestic propaganda needs. He could also take his personal aircraft, a dated IL-62, to Vietnam and return by train. JTBC reported he probably has some travel stops he wants to make in Vietnam and southern China that his train ride could accommodate on the way home. The broadcast specifically mentioned Guangzhou, (formerly Canton) China, an economically well developed city he would like to visit. He would probably want to talk with Xi or other Chinese officials while on the trip as well. They said Kim Jong Un's personal airliner could make it to Vietnam non-stop.

It seems like it might be a major inconvenience for the Chinese high speed rail system to run an old train like Kim's.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/High-speed_rail_in_China#/media/File:Rail_map_of_PRC.svg

The JTBC Beijing correspondent said a rail trip would take 50 hours plus, whether he took the most direct route from Beijing to Langson (blue), or the Tienjin route, (dotted green).

[Eugene]

1. North Korea's Kim to travel to Vietnam by train, summit at Government Guesthouse: sources

Source: Reuters

WORLD NEWS FEBRUARY 20, 2019 / 1:51 AM / UPDATED 2 HOURS AGO

North Korea's Kim to travel to Vietnam by train, summit at Government Guesthouse: sources

James Pearson
3 MIN READ

HANOI (Reuters) - Vietnam is preparing for North Korean leader Kim Jong Un to arrive by train for his summit in Hanoi next week with President Donald Trump, two sources with direct knowledge of security and logistics planning told Reuters on Wednesday.

It could take Kim at least two and a half days to travel the thousands of kilometers through China by train, from the North Korean capital of Pyongyang to Vietnam, meaning he would have to set off later this week in time for his planned Feb. 25 arrival.

Kim’s train will stop at the Vietnamese border station of Dong Dang, where he will disembark and drive 170 km (105 miles) to Hanoi by car, the sources said.

Separately, three other sources with direct knowledge of the summit preparations told Reuters the preferred location for the Feb. 27-28 meeting between Trump and Kim is the Government Guesthouse, a colonial-era government building in central Hanoi.

-snip-

Read more: https://www.reuters.com/article/us-northkorea-usa/north-koreas-kim-to-travel-to-vietnam-by-train-summit-at-government-guesthouse-sources-idUSKCN1Q90KJ