Kim Jong Un made another trip in his mysterious dark green armored train, this time to Vladivostok to meet with Vladimir Putin. All North Korean dictators traveled frequently by train, sometimes many thousands of kilometers, even to Romania. The train is luxurious, but it proves that the dictator is paranoid and squandering many resources of a poor country.

The armored train shows how paranoid Kim Jong Un is

Little is known about these luxurious but slow armored trains, but what will those who have seen the special equipment say?

• VIDEO Kim Jong-un is waiting in Russia with military fanfare / The moment when the North Korean leader got off the train

The train was named “Taeyangho,” which means “sun” in Korean, a symbolic reference to founder Kim Il-sung.

In fact, the presidential train in North Korea has 17 to 21 cars, and the front is full of armed men, running for security. From Vladivostok to the North Korean border is 500 km. The leader usually travels in a convoy of three trains, the third carrying guards and supplies. Kim Jong Un has 90 cars for his convoy.

A 2009 report said that under Kim Jong Il, there were 100 security personnel on the front train to check explosives areas and make sure the track was in good condition. Military helicopters flew overhead.

Speeds are low, mainly because the armored cars are much heavier than normal ones, so the train rarely exceeds 60 km/h, and other sources say a possible top speed of 90 km/h. In case of an emergency, the train also has cars (such as a Mercedes limousine), but sometimes there is also a small helicopter.

The wagons look retro, made in Pyongyang and are a dark green cocoon with a yellow stripe.

Sources report that the train has luxurious conference rooms decorated in white, Kim has several offices, and his father even had a Macintosh computer, writes Reuters.

There are sleepers, a dining car, pink leather seats, ivory curtains and satellite phones. According to the few surviving records, it is full of expensive French wine, lobster is served, and many women entertain the “Great Helmsman.”

It is said that all North Korean dictators had a phobia of airplanes and therefore chose the train. In addition, in the conditions of political isolation of the country, the only states with which there were and still are at least somehow good relations are China and Russia, located not far from the capital Pyongyang.

The train is also considered a status symbol for North Korean dictators. The leadership of Korea considers the train to be much safer than the plane, especially since the country has not invested in aviation, but it is very rare that Kim also traveled by plane, but he is afraid that the plane will not be shot down.

Fear of airplanes makes them love trains

The connection between North Korean dictators and trains is so strong that when describing long-distance trips, they talked about the “Pyongyang Express” and the “Train of Diplomacy”.

The armored train is traditional for the family that has ruled North Korea for the past seven decades, and leaders of the states have traveled extensively on special trains.

For example, Kim Jong Il (ruled from 1994 to 2011) traveled by train to China seven times and to Russia three times. He had a heart attack during a train ride.

Like the current dictator, he was also in Vladivostok for a meeting with Putin (in 2002). His longest trip was almost 20,000 km in 2001 to Moscow and back. A Russian military commander who was traveling at the time said that many Russian, Chinese, French, Korean and Japanese dishes could be ordered.

Kim Il Sung traveled extensively by train, with the longest journey in 1984 including Romania, Czechoslovakia, GDR, Poland and Bulgaria. In a 2002 book, Russian official Konstantin Pulikovsky described what Kim Il Sung’s three-week trip to Moscow was like on a train gifted by Stalin. Pulikovsky wrote that lobsters brought alive from Paris were cooked on the train, as were boxes of Bordeaux and Beaujolais wines.

North Korea’s rail network is in dire straits, and South Korean-funded investment plans have been rumored but unlikely to materialize anytime soon.

Foreigners are officially prohibited from using internal trains in North Korea, those who manage to do so receive a special permit.

Sources: Reuters, BBC, AP, New York Times, CNBC