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North Korean Dictators Will Only Take The Train
A brief history of the dictatorship’s relationship with trains
Most world leaders have their own private planes. Air Force One is a flying fortress and other nation’s leaders have similarly decked out aircraft to ferry them around an increasingly globalized world. However, some leaders prefer the old fashioned modes of transportation. The North Korean leaders famously do not ride planes. Instead, they prefer to take the slow overland route via train.
The tradition of riding trains began with the first dictator of North Korea Kim Il-sung and continues with his grandson Kim Jong Un. What started as a mobile command unit has evolved into one of the most heavily armored and elaborate trains in the world.
Born from wartime
Rails have been an integral part of war since their creation in the 19th century. After the fall of Imperial Japan in 1945, the Korean people retook control of their vital railroads for the first time in decades. They became important lifelines for the country as they began to rebuild after the Japanese occupation. Thousands of Korean prisoners and exiles…
