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North Korean leader Kim Jong-un on his train as he visited flooded regions near the border with China in August. (KCNA/Yonhap)

North Korean leader Kim Jong-un departed from Pyongyang on his bulletproof train on Monday to attend China’s “Victory Day” celebration on Wednesday, which commemorates China's victory over Japanese aggression during WWII. Kim’s train reportedly arrived in Sinuiju, on the border with China, around sunset.
 
Kim has made four previous visits to China in 2018 and 2019, traveling by train on his first and fourth visits and by airplane on his second and third.
 
Kim could make the 782-kilometer flight from Pyongyang to Beijing in 80 minutes in his Chammae-1 official airplane. But a train must follow a circuitous course that runs for 1,333 kilometers and takes around 20 hours, or 18 hours with no stops. In other words, traveling by train takes as much as 15 times longer than by airplane.
 
So why is Kim passing over the quick option of flying to Beijing? Many say the slower train journey offers several advantages. For one thing, it allows Kim to dodge potentially embarrassing comparisons between his rickety old plane and the shiny new models flown by such leaders as Russian President Vladimir Putin. For another, it casts into relief the “special treatment” Kim can expect from China.
 
The Chammae-1 (named for the goshawk, North Korea’s national bird) is an Ilyushin Il-62M, an old Soviet airplane produced between 1974 and 1995. Such an outdated and discontinued airplane is hardly the kind of aircraft that befits a national leader. While the Chammae-1’s date of manufacture is not known for certain, sources say it was probably made in the 1980s.

The Sino-Korean Friendship Bridge over the Yalu (Amnok) River, which Kim Jong-un’s train will cross as he heads to Beijing for China’s “Victory Day” celebrations marking the surrender of Japan in WWII. (Lee Je-hun/Hankyoreh)

 
If Kim were to fly the Chammae-1 to Beijing, he would have to follow multilateral protocol, rather than bilateral protocol, during the Victory Day events. That would make it difficult to avoid unflattering comparisons between his official airplane and those sported by other world leaders.
 
“Putin’s presidential aircraft is an Ilyushin Il-96, which is the latest model. North Korea will want to sidestep comparisons with its out-of-date and run-down Chammae-1 presidential airplane for reasons of national prestige,” said Ahn Byung-min, the chair of the North Korea Economic Forum and an expert on North Korean transportation.

Despite the train’s slow speed, it can help bolster Kim’s image as a hard-working leader — an image often expressed through propaganda depictions of leaders subsisting on “rice balls and catnaps.” The train can also highlight that Kim is receiving special attention from China.

Kim Jong-un speaks at a ceremony honoring war veterans who served in Russia on Aug. 29, 2025. (KCNA/Yonhap)

 It takes about four hours and 30 minutes for Kim’s armored train to travel 225 kilometers from Pyongyang to the border station of Sinuiju without making any stops.
 
Once the train crosses the Sinuiju rail bridge over the Yalu River and enters China, it will be escorted by a Dongfeng, or DF, locomotive, an official Communist Party of China train. In effect, Kim will be treated as a guest of the state from the moment his train crosses the Yalu River.
 
Before Kim reaches Beijing, welcome events for his visit may be held at various points along the Chinese railroad, including Dandong Station, on the Chinese side of the border. Presuming there are no stops, it will take the train about 13 hours and 30 minutes to travel the 1,103 kilometers between Dandong and Beijing. Kim’s bulletproof train travels around 45-50 km an hour.
 
Kim could use his train in lieu of a hotel while in Beijing, an option that would not be available if he had flown.
 
Some foreign policy sources say that Kim could stay at the Diaoyutai State Guesthouse, as he did during his visit to China in 2018, but an intelligence source reported no indications that the North Korean protocol team was arranging a hotel for Kim.
 
“Kim may sleep in his train or use the North Korean Embassy while in Beijing,” the source said.
 
The North Korean Embassy in China carried out some repairs not long before Kim’s visit to China. The embassy’s exterior walls were repainted, and a round plaque was installed above the entrance. The large portrait of Kim Jong-un that had been hanging on an exterior frame has also been replaced by a photograph of his grandfather and the founder of North Korea, Kim Il-sung.

By Lee Je-hun, senior staff writer

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