Tuesday, February 19, 2019

Will Kim take his personal train to Hanoi?

(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 ride in 1958. This fits in with the weird monarchical, underlying Confucian themes permeating North Korea's carefully 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 broachcast specifically mentioned Guangzhou, (formerly Canton) China, said to be 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 say his personal aircraft 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 line, in dotted green.

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