Despitebeingmoreclosedas a countrythan a saladrestaurantinAlabama, NorthKorea's leadersdooccasionallyneedtoleavethecountrymostoftentomakesurethatbigdaddyChinastillhastheirbacks.
Thisisnow a bitof a traditionamongDPRKleadersstartedlargelybecausethepreviousleader, KimJong-Il, wasreportedlydeaflyafraidofflyingaftersurviving a helicoptercrashin 1976.
Whentravelinginternationally, though, thetrainbecomesmoreof a trainer-cade.
しかし、海外に出向く際には列車群が一団となって走行します。
A securitytrainwillleadabout 20 minutesaheadoftheleader's tocheckthattracksandstationsareintactandsafe.
まずセキュリティ列車が20分ほど先に出発して、線路や駅に異常がないかチェックします。
Thisalsocarriesplentyofsecurityofficerswhocouldwardoff a threatifonearose. KimJung-Un's trainfollowsthatoneandthendirectlyafterwouldbe a thirdsupporttraincarryingmorebodyguardsandsupplies.
Hecouldhavehypotheticallytakenthetraintherebutitwouldhavebeen a morethan 110 hourtrippassingthroughsomecountriesthatmightnotbehappytoseeKim—mostparticularly, Malaysia.
Obviouslythere's verylittleprecedentconsideringthatthiswastheonlytimeindecadesthat a NorthKoreanleadertravelledinternationallybyplane, butit's likelythatKimJong-unwouldprobablyuseChina's jetsagainforanyfuturelong-distancetripsespeciallyifheweretomake a triptothemainlandUnitedStatesfornegotiations.