Inside North Korean Leader Kim Jong Un’s Armored Train 

North Korean leader Kim Jong Un departs Pyongyang, North Korea, to visit Russia, September 10, 2023, in this image released by North Korea's Korean Central News Agency on September 12, 2023. (KCNA via Reuters)
North Korean leader Kim Jong Un departs Pyongyang, North Korea, to visit Russia, September 10, 2023, in this image released by North Korea's Korean Central News Agency on September 12, 2023. (KCNA via Reuters)
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Inside North Korean Leader Kim Jong Un’s Armored Train 

North Korean leader Kim Jong Un departs Pyongyang, North Korea, to visit Russia, September 10, 2023, in this image released by North Korea's Korean Central News Agency on September 12, 2023. (KCNA via Reuters)
North Korean leader Kim Jong Un departs Pyongyang, North Korea, to visit Russia, September 10, 2023, in this image released by North Korea's Korean Central News Agency on September 12, 2023. (KCNA via Reuters)

North Korean leader Kim Jong Un used a dark green train to travel to Russia, state media showed on Tuesday, relying on a slow but specialized form of transportation that the reclusive country's leaders have used for decades.

Compared to the country's ageing fleet of planes, bulletproof trains offer a safer and more comfortable space for a large entourage, security guards, food and amenities, and a place to discuss agendas ahead of meetings, experts say.

Since becoming leader in late 2011, Kim has used a train to visit China and Vietnam, as well as his previous trip to Russia to meet Putin in 2019.

What’s inside the trains?

It is unclear how many trains North Korean leaders have used over the years, but Ahn Byung-min, a South Korean expert on North Korean transportation, said multiple trains were needed for security reasons.

Ahn said those trains have 10 to 15 carriages each, some of which are used only by the leader, such as a bedroom, but others carry security guards and medical staff.

The country's archaic rail network means the luxurious train only travels up to 40 kilometers per hour (25mph).

"Even if it is slow, train is safer and more comfortable than anything else for a North Korean leader," Ahn said.

A video released in 2018 showed Kim meeting with top Chinese officials in a wide train car ringed with pink couches.

The video also showed the carriage housing Kim's office, with a desk and chair, and a map of China and the Korean peninsula on the wall behind it.

In 2020, state TV footage showed Kim riding a train to visit a typhoon-hit area, offering a glimpse of a carriage decorated with flower-shaped lighting and zebra-printed fabric chairs.

In the 2002 book "Orient Express", Russian official Konstantin Pulikovsky described a three-week journey to Moscow by Kim Jong Il, Kim Jong Un's father and predecessor.

In that train, cases of Bordeaux and Beaujolais wine were flown in from Paris, as were live lobsters, according to the book.

The elder Kim's train included one residential carriage, the so-called "headquarters" carriage, a restaurant, several car transportation carriages with two armored Mercedes, former Russian diplomat Georgy Toloraya wrote in NK News, an outlet specializing in North Korea, recalling Kim's visit by rail to Russia in 2001.

Toloraya said the train had a satellite communication system and all the carriages were connected.

The wheels of Kim Jong Un's train must be changed in Russia or a North Korean station bordering Russia, because the two countries use different rail gauges, Ahn said.

Who uses the trains?

North Korea's founding leader, Kim Il Sung, Kim's grandfather, travelled abroad by train regularly during his rule until his death in 1994.

Kim Jong Il relied solely on trains to visit Russia three times, including a 20,000 km trip to Moscow in 2001.

The train was "a sweet home and an office," for Kim Jong Il, state television has said.

He died of a reported heart attack in late 2011 while on one of his trains and the carriage is on display at his mausoleum.

The train has been at the center of state propaganda around the ruling Kim family's embarking on long train journeys to meet ordinary North Koreans across the country.

Last year, state television showed Kim Jong Un in a white train car touching corn leaves and discussing corn crops while smoking a cigarette, saying Kim hoping for a "communist utopia" is on an "exhaustive train tour".



River Seine Reopens to Public Swimming for 1st Time in a Century

A view of one of the three Seine swimming pools, Thursday, July 3, 2025 which will open during the 'Paris Plages' event from July 5 to Aug. 31 in Paris. (AP Photo/Aurelien Morissard)
A view of one of the three Seine swimming pools, Thursday, July 3, 2025 which will open during the 'Paris Plages' event from July 5 to Aug. 31 in Paris. (AP Photo/Aurelien Morissard)
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River Seine Reopens to Public Swimming for 1st Time in a Century

A view of one of the three Seine swimming pools, Thursday, July 3, 2025 which will open during the 'Paris Plages' event from July 5 to Aug. 31 in Paris. (AP Photo/Aurelien Morissard)
A view of one of the three Seine swimming pools, Thursday, July 3, 2025 which will open during the 'Paris Plages' event from July 5 to Aug. 31 in Paris. (AP Photo/Aurelien Morissard)

For the first time in over a century, Parisians and tourists will be able to take a refreshing dip in the River Seine. The long-polluted waterway is finally opening up as a summertime swim spot following a 1.4 billion euro ($1.5 billion) cleanup project that made it suitable for Olympic competitions last year.

Three new swimming sites on the Paris riverbank will open on Saturday — one close to Paris’ Notre Dame Cathedral, another near the Eiffel Tower and a third in eastern Paris.

Swimming in the Seine has been illegal since 1923, with a few exceptions, due to pollution and risks posed by river navigation. Taking a dip outside bathing areas is still banned for safety reasons.

The Seine was one of the stars of the Paris Olympics in 2024, whether as the scene of the ambitious opening ceremony or the triathlon and marathon swimming competitions. That didn't go without challenging hurdles such as rainfall increasing levels of bacteria, which postponed some competitions.

This city's authorities have given the green light for the public opening, with water quality results consistently in line with European regulations.

Making splashes in Paris city center “It’s a symbolic moment when we get our river back,” said sports coach and influencer Lucile Woodward, who will participate in the first amateur open water competition in the Seine on Sunday.

Woodward, who enjoyed a dip alongside Paris Mayor Anne Hidalgo just before the start of the Olympic Games, is confident things will go well.

“We're going to enjoy swimming in it, being there and setting an example," she said. "Once people will see that in the end there are hundreds of people who have fun and enjoy it, everyone will want to go!”

“For families, going to take a dip with the kids, making little splashes in Paris, it’s extraordinary,” Woodward added.

Olympic athletes competing in the river was a spectacular reward for the cost of the cleanup effort.

In the run-up to the Games, authorities opened new disinfection units and created a huge storage basin meant to prevent as much bacteria-laden wastewater as possible from spilling directly into the Seine when it rains.

Houseboats that previously emptied their sewage directly into the river were required to hook up to municipal sewer systems. Some homes upstream from Paris also saw their wastewater connected to treatment plants instead of the rainwater system flowing directly into the river.

Green flag for swimming Paris Deputy Mayor Pierre Rabadan said water is tested daily to confirm it's safe to swim. As on French beaches, different colored flags will inform visitors whether or not they can go in.

“Green means the water quality is good. Red means that it's not good or that there's too much current,” he said.

Tests have been in line with European regulations since the beginning of June, with only two exceptions due to rain and boat-related pollution, Rabadan said.

“I can’t make a bet on the numbers of days when we’ll have to close this summer, but water quality seems better than last year,” he added. “We’re in a natural environment ... so weather condition variations necessarily have an impact."

Last year, several athletes became ill after competing in the triathlon and open water races during the Olympics, though in most cases it was not clear if the river was to blame for their sickness.

World Aquatics stressed the conditions met the sport’s accepted thresholds.

“The legacy of these efforts is already evident, with the Seine now open for public swimming — a positive example of how sports can drive long-term community benefits,” the organization said in a statement to The Associated Press.

Skepticism remains about water quality Dan Angelescu, founder and CEO of Fluidion, a Paris and Los Angeles-based water monitoring tech company, has routinely and independently tested bacterial levels in the Seine for several years. Despite being in line with current regulations, the official water testing methodology has limitations and undercounts the bacteria, he said.

“What we see is that the water quality in the Seine is highly variable,” Angelescu said. “There are only a few days in a swimming season where I would say water quality is acceptable for swimming.”

“All we can say is that we can raise a hand and say look: the science today does not support the current assessment of water safety used in the rivers around Paris, and we think that there is major risk that is not being captured at all,” he said.

Some Parisians also have shown skepticism toward the idea of swimming in the Seine. The feeling is often reinforced by the water's murky color, floating litter and multiple tourist boats in some places.

Enys Mahdjoub, a real estate agent, said he would not be afraid of swimming, but rather "a bit disgusted. It’s more the worry of getting dirty than anything else at the moment.”

A dream come true Until the end of August, swimming sites will be open for free at scheduled times to anyone with a minimum age of 10 or 14 years, depending on the location. Lifeguards will keep a watchful eye on those first dips.

“It’s an opportunity, a dream come true," said Clea Montanari, a project manager in Paris. "It’d be a dream if the Seine becomes drinkable, that would be the ultimate goal, right? But already swimming in it is really good.”