North Korean leader Kim Jong-un leaves Vietnam after historic visit

Kim Jong-un waves goodbye, before stepping into his train in Dong Dang station in northern Vietnam, to travel back to Pyongyang, March 2, 2019. Photo by Huu Khoa

After attending the second summit with U.S. President Donald Trump and paying his first official visit to Vietnam, the North Korean leader boarded his armored train at a railway station in Lang Son Province, close to the Chinese border.

In talks that he held with leaders of the Vietnamese Communist Party, the government and the legislature on Friday, Kim said he was impressed with Vietnam’s socio-economic achievements and expressed his wish to take bilateral ties with the country to greater heights.

Among the people he met were  Party General Secretary and State President Nguyen Phu Trong, Prime Minister Nguyen Xuan Phuc and National Assembly Chairwoman Nguyen Thi Kim Ngan.

On Saturday morning, he paid his respects at the Ho Chi Minh Mausoleum before traveling nearly three hours with a car convoy to the Dong Dang Railway to take his train home.

Kim was the first North Korean leader to visit Vietnam in 55 years. His grandfather Kim Il-sung had visited Vietnam in 1964.

In 1950 North Korea became one of the first countries to establish diplomatic relations with Vietnam, after China and the Soviet Union.

Kim Jong-un arrived in Vietnam Tuesday morning after traveling for more than 60 hours in his armored train from Pyongyang.