Kim Jong Un’s bulletproof train

AN OLIVE-green North Korean train, emblazoned with a gold stripe, carried leader Kim Jong Un into China yesterday for a grand military parade that President Xi Jinping and Russia's Vladimir Putin will also attend.

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Since taking power in 2011, Kim has now made nine international trips and crossed the border into South Korea twice, using his bespoke, bulletproof train for most of his travel.

A look at what we know about Kim's preferred mode of transport:

A love of locomotives runs in Kim's family.

His father and predecessor, Kim Jong Il, was known to fear flying, limiting his foreign trips to overland journeys to China and Russia by armoured train.

In 2001, the elder Kim rode his train from the North Korean capital Pyongyang to Moscow, a marathon 20 000km round trip that took about 24 days.

The train was well stocked, however, with fresh lobster and cases of French Bordeaux and Burgundy red wines, according to an account by a Russian official on board.

According to the official North Korean account, Kim Jong Il was on a train for a “field guidance” visit in 2011 when he died of a heart attack.

The carriages used by Kim Jong Il and his father, North Korea’s founder Kim II Sung, are now on display in Pyongyang.

Unlike his father, Kim Jong Un is not afraid of flying - he has taken several trips by air, including to China and Singapore, and was once depicted by state media at the controls of an aircraft.