New pictures reveal the inside of Kim Jong-un‘s armoured train, which he used this week to visit China for talks with premier Xi Jinping.
The North Korean dictator used the 21-car train to make his first foreign trip since taking power in 2011. His father, who died that year, used the same mode of transport on his visits abroad.
Painted dark green with a bright yellow stripe, the train pulled into Beijing on Monday night under a veil of secrecy – but photographs released later show what the carriages look like inside.
Mr Kim is seen speaking with Chinese officials in a brightly-lit carriage furnished with pink leather sofas.
Light panels in the ceiling are complemented by brackets on the wall, while office-style blinds cover the windows.
The wood flooring features a simple pattern and overall the car’s decor is sparse.
But the rare glimpse inside was a limited one, as nothing beyond the meeting area was visible.
According to reports, each carriage is bulletproof, and therefore much heavier than it otherwise would be. The train travels at an average speed of just 37mph, a 2009 report in South Korean media suggested.
A different carriage, containing a long white table apparently for conferences, appeared in a 2015 video with Mr Kim at its head. It had the same bright white walls as the one in which the despot received Chinese officials on Monday.
Not much is known about Mr Kim's use of the train. In his father's time it was believed to be stocked with fine wines and, according to the memoirs of a Russian man who travelled with Kim Jong-il, had a wide range of cuisines on the menu.
Mr Kim’s meeting with Mr Xi appeared to patch up a relationship that had been strained by China’s support for sanctions against Pyongyang, imposed due to repeated nuclear and missile tests.
The US president, Donald Trump, has agreed to meet Mr Kim in a bid to achieve “denuclearisation” of the Korean peninsula.
