With its signature green paint, Kim Jong Un’s train is believed to include more than 20 armored cars. It’s equipped with a communications system and a special cabin for Kim where he has been seen at work. Here’s more on his preferred mode of travel: https://t.co/3vCdsr1E8U pic.twitter.com/lRTlGJCRyH
— Reuters (@Reuters) September 7, 2023
Very cool, Kim!
Dictators are so much cooler.
Who would rather have a gay “democracy” leader for a few years than an awesome dictator?
Kim Jong Un is gearing up to ride the rails of luxury into eastern Russia, where North Korea’s leader is expected to meet Vladimir Putin about supplying weapons to bolster Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, US officials said earlier this week.
The 39-year-old Kim’s private train service was inherited from his father, former dictator Kim Jong Il, and created out of a fear of flying.
The cars are bulletproof, and this convoy certainly won’t be mistaken for a bullet train — the armored protection is so heavy that average speeds top out at 37 mph.
(Amtrak’s Acela Express hits 150 mph, while France’s TGV, the fastest in the world, exceeds 357 mph.)
The train is believed to be outfitted with conference rooms paneled in dark wood, as well as multiple bedrooms, satellite phones, flatscreen TVs and roughly 100 security agents who scan routes and upcoming stations for bombs and other threats.
As for the dining car, chefs are on call to whip up Russian, Chinese, Korean, Japanese or French cuisine.
Cases of live lobsters and other delicacies are flown in fresh, according to a 2002 account by Russian official Konstantin Pulikovsky who traveled with Kim Jong Il.
…
To spice up the ride, a group of female performers known as “beautiful lady conductors” frequently serenaded the elder Kim in Korean and Russian, Pulikovsky wrote.
On the lookout for attacks, a separate train precedes and follows the convoy, which has reportedly consisted of as many as 90 carriages.
I wish I’d been invited on the train.
This looks like so much fun!
Footage from 2011