The armored train carrying Kim Jong-un and his entourage reached Dong Dang station in Lang Son Province Tuesday morning after a long trip of 4,500 km. He left in a car for Hanoi at around 8:30 a.m.
Kim is scheduled to be in Vietnam for his official first visit to the country and the second summit with U.S. President Donald Trump in Hanoi.
He will be accompanied by Kim Yong-chol, who has been a key negotiator in talks with the U.S., and Kim Yo Jong, the leader’s sister.
North Korea’s Korean Central News Agency (KCNA) said Sunday that Kim Jong-un had boarded a train from Pyongyang to begin the journey to Vietnam on Saturday.
Over the past days, security has been tightened to the highest level at the railway station on the Chinese border which is now closed to welcome the North Korean leader’s arrival.
Trump and Kim will meet face-to-face in Hanoi on Wednesday and Thursday, eight months after their historic summit in Singapore in June, the first between a sitting U.S. president and a North Korean leader, at which they pledged to work towards denuclearization of the Korean peninsula.
Vietnam’s Foreign Ministry announced Saturday that Kim Jong-un will pay an official visit to Vietnam in the coming days at the invitation of Party General Secretary and State President Nguyen Phu Trong.