Traveling to Meet Trump, Kim Jong-un Takes the Long Route

https://www.nytimes.com/2019/02/24/world/asia/north-korea-kim-jong-un-china-train.html

Traveling to Meet Trump, Kim Jong-un Takes the Long Route
By Jane Perlez
Feb. 24, 2019


North Korea’s leader, Kim Jong-un, before leaving Pyongyang on Saturday. He will have to leave the train at the China-Vietnam border. KCNA, via Associated Press

When he traveled to meet Mr. Trump for the first time in Singapore last June, Mr. Kim borrowed a Boeing 747 belonging to the national carrier, Air China. (His own Soviet-made Ilyushin Il-62 is almost 40 years old and short of spare parts.)

The current North Korean leader appears to be taking a similar route as his grandfather, with some tweaks. It is unclear how much sightseeing is planned.

In a sign of the rivalry between China and its southern neighbor, Vietnam has deliberately continued to use different spacing on its railroad tracks, which in the past made it more difficult for China to invade, Mr. Cheng said.

So Mr. Kim will have to leave his train at the border with Vietnam. He will travel the last 105 miles or so to Hanoi by road, Vietnamese officials say, a windy route through low mountains.