HANOI, Feb 22 (NNN-AGENCIES) — Vietnamese police have stepped up security at a remote rail station on the Chinese border where North Korean leader Kim Jong Un is expected to enter the country by train next week ahead of a summit with US President Donald Trump.
Vietnam is preparing for Kim to arrive by train for the Feb 27-28 summit in the capital, Hanoi.
Kim’s train will stop at the border station of Dong Dang where he will disembark and drive 170km to Hanoi by car, the sources said.
An official at the local People’s Committee said provincial authorities had issued instructions for the station to be tidied up.
Two trains, usually carrying goods, pass through the station daily on the way to or from China. Although Vietnam and China have different gauge train tracks, the line to Hanoi from the border can take Chinese trains.
Kim Jong Un, however, travels in his own heavy, armoured train which could pose a problem for Vietnam’s outdated, colonial-era rail network.
There have already been four derailments of trains in Vietnam this year, the transport ministry said.
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. — NNN-AGENCIES
