NorthKorea: therealworldequivalentofwhathappenswhenyougive a kid a Minecraftserver.
Thiscountryisjust, youknow, notgreat.
Itisalmostuniversallyrecognizedas a realcountry, though, unlikeplentyofothermaybecountries, andKimJong-unisitsreal, legitimateleader.
Despitebeingmoreclosedas a countrythan a saladrestaurantinAlabama, NorthKorea's leadersdooccasionallyneedtoleavethecountrymostoftentomakesurethatbigdaddyChinastillhastheirbacks.
Thisisnow a bitof a traditionamongDPRKleadersstartedlargelybecausethepreviousleader, KimJong-Il, wasreportedlydeaflyafraidofflyingaftersurviving a helicoptercrashin 1976.
Whentravelinginternationally, though, thetrainbecomesmoreof a trainer-cade.
A securitytrainwillleadabout 20 minutesaheadoftheleader's tocheckthattracksandstationsareintactandsafe.
Thisalsocarriesplentyofsecurityofficerswhocouldwardoff a threatifonearose. KimJung-Un's trainfollowsthatoneandthendirectlyafterwouldbe a thirdsupporttraincarryingmorebodyguardsandsupplies.
Theythoughtaboutusing a rockettomake a splashyentrancebutthenfiguredthatwouldbeoverdoingit, justlikethisjoke.
Hecouldhavehypotheticallytakenthetraintherebutitwouldhavebeen a morethan 110 hourtrippassingthroughsomecountriesthatmightnotbehappytoseeKim—mostparticularly, Malaysia.
Obviouslythere's verylittleprecedentconsideringthatthiswastheonlytimeindecadesthat a NorthKoreanleadertravelledinternationallybyplane, butit's likelythatKimJong-unwouldprobablyuseChina's jetsagainforanyfuturelong-distancetripsespeciallyifheweretomake a triptothemainlandUnitedStatesfornegotiations.