HANOI, Feb 20 — 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 today.
It could take Kim at least two and a half days to travel the thousands of kilometres 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 170km 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.
All five sources who spoke to Reuters said the plans were subject to change. The sources were not authorised to speak to the media because of the sensitivities surrounding the secretive North Korean leader’s travel plans.
Vietnamese Prime Minister Nguyen Xuan Phuc told the summit organising committee yesterday that security during the summit was “top priority”, Vietnam’s government said on its website today.
The Metropole Hotel, opposite the Government Guesthouse, will be a backup location for the summit, two of the sources said.
On Saturday, a Reuters witness saw Kim Jong-un’s close aide, Kim Chang-son, visiting the Government Guesthouse and the Metropole and Melia hotels in the centre of the capital.
Kim could possibly stay in the Melia hotel during his visit, one of the sources said.
Like father, like son
Travel by train has been a favourite mode of transport for Kim Jong-un, and his father, Kim Jong-il, and grandfather, Kim Il-sung.
North Korea experts have remarked on how Kim Jong-un’s overseas visits, such as his state visit to China in January, are reminiscent of Kim Il-sung.
“(His father) Kim Jong-il was very reclusive. He didn’t like meeting foreign delegations, and he didn’t really enjoy going to foreign countries,” said Thae Yong Ho, North Korea’s former deputy ambassador to Britain, who defected to South Korea in 2016, told media on Tuesday.
“But Kim Jong-un is a bit like Kim Il-sung. He really likes overseas activity,” said Thae.
Kim’s grandfather, Kim Il-sung, visited Vietnam twice, in 1958 and 1964.
In 1958, Kim Il-sung went from Pyongyang to Beijing by plane, then from Beijing to Guangzhou by train, then he appears to have crossed the border from China to Hanoi by plane, South Korean newspaper Kyunghyang Shinmun reported yesterday citing archived Chinese media reports.
In 1964, Kim Il-sung visited Vietnam using a Vickers Viscount aircraft provided by China that was the personal plane of Mao Zedong’s second-in-command Lin Biao, Kyunghyang reported. — Reuters
