Monday, October 17, 2011

Kim Jong-Il's Special Uber Train

Caption reads : A film portraying Kim Jong-Il's visit to China revealed the inside of Kim Jong Il's special train he used in 2004. This picture shows Kim Jong-Il having a conversation with other Party officials, with luxurious couches and wall-mounted TV.
North Korea's Supreme Leader, Kim Jong-Il, has his own special uber train named "The Sun". Traveling by airplane always has the risk of becoming an easy target for terrorism or assassination, so Kim Jong-Il prefers traveling by train, this very train to be specific. When he made visits to China and Russia recently, he took this train for his safety.

According to a Russian news agency, Kim Jong-Il's "The Sun" train consists of 17 compartments. This is one more than 2002, when he visited the far eastern Russia.

Huge office compartments and other spaces for conferences and meetings are all in the front part of the train. These rooms are followed by sleeping rooms, then communication rooms. The rest of the train is for bodyguards, other officials, and workers aboard the train. The Russian media described this train as a "wheeled fortress." According to a Russian official who has traveled with Kim Jong-Il on this train, this exclusive train was given to Kim Jong-Il by Stalin as a gift, and it has been remodified since then. The special compartments that Kim Jong-Il uses are modified to include bullet-proof steel floor to protect from explosions.

A Hong Kong News Agency reported that this specialized train is equipped with satellite control system, satellite television, and telephone. This is no surprise, as this whole train is built solely for one person. Kim Jong-Il can issue orders for his nation or his military while he's on this train, no matter where he is.

His personal compartment is quite extraordinary. To match Kim Jong-Il's luxurious appetite, the whole room is lit up with bright white light, and filled up with many luxurious couches and other furniture. On each end of the room, there are two large flat screen TV's hung on the wall. One TV plays his favorite movies indefinitely. The other one is for "work", displaying real-time reports for the whole world's weather reports, economy, military, political news and other situations.
Source
They recently outfitted these trains with special nets with stealth capability. A running train with stealth capability? But hey, people have made stealth ships before, especially the US military. This stealth net was installed in order to avoid detection by US/Korean military satellites and U-2 Surveillance Planes. According to sources, this net is made with RAM(radar absorbent material) in thin films. Their goal is probably to confuse the US and South Korea on the actual and precise location of Kim Jong-Il when he is on the move.

Obviously, they have enough equipment stashed up inside the train to be a mobile hospital, bomb squad, radar jamming, and everything you can imagine to protect a single person who is supposedly more important than 24 million people in North Korea.

Source :
Joo Sung-Ha's Nambuk Story
Joongang Daily Article
Chosun Daily Article
Maeil Economy Daily Article

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