BEIJING, China – A team of North Korean personnel carefully surveyed the leader’s successor. This was part of tight security protocols adopted to protect him. The visit highlighted the significance of North Korea’s internal security measures.
This happened after North Korean President Kim Jong Un sat down with Russian President Vladimir Putin in Beijing.
Even as Kim and Putin showed signs of friendship, footage on Wednesday captured North Korea’s extraordinary measures. These aimed to conceal any evidence related to President Kim or his health.
Kremlin correspondent Alexander Yonashev posted a video on Telegram. The video showed North Korean intelligence services, for the first time in the world, using a “purge” approach for all traces of their leader.
Two North Korean employees wiped the seat back and backrests.
They also cleaned the coffee table next to Kim’s seat. Additionally, they removed the cup from which leader Kim Jong Un drank.
“After the discussions ended, the two staff members accompanying the DPRK president carefully removed all traces of Kim’s presence,” the reporter said.
After the talks in the hall ended, Kim and Putin left for tea and bid each other a warm farewell.
Russian journalist Sergei Goncharov told Shot News Agency about Kim Jong Un’s delegation team. They removed all traces indicating his presence during the discussions he held in China.
This is to ensure that North Korea’s opponents do not obtain any trace of his DNA.
usual protocol
As he had done on previous foreign trips, Kim took his own toilet on a distinctive green train to Beijing. This was to hide health signs.
Michael Madden, an expert on North Korea affairs at the US-based Stimson Center, said that such measures are a usual protocol. This has been the case since the era of Kim Jong Il, father of the current North Korean president.
He added, “The private toilet collects waste, waste, and cigarette butts in garbage bags. This is so that the intelligence service of a foreign country, even if it is friendly, does not obtain a sample and test it”.
In 2019, after Kim and US President Donald Trump’s summit in Hanoi, Kim’s guards were seen closing the floor where his hotel room was for hours. During this time, they cleaned it and took out items, including the bed gasket.
