North Korea Erases Kim Jong Un’s Traces After Beijing Meeting With Putin

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North Korea Erases Kim Jong Un’s Traces After Beijing Meeting With Putin

SEOUL (Reuters) – Following a high-profile meeting in Beijing between North Korean leader Kim Jong Un and Russian President Vladimir Putin, North Korean staffers were filmed meticulously wiping down items touched by Kim, in what analysts describe as part of Pyongyang’s extreme security measures against foreign espionage.

Footage shared Wednesday by Kremlin reporter Alexander Yunashev on Telegram showed Kim’s aides scrubbing the backrest and armrests of the chair he used, along with a nearby coffee table. His drinking glass was also removed.

“After the negotiations were over, the staff accompanying the head of the DPRK carefully destroyed all traces of Kim’s presence,” Yunashev noted.

The two leaders reportedly met for over two hours before leaving the room for a tea gathering, where they bid each other a warm farewell.

Extreme Secrecy Around Kim’s Health

Despite the optics of a closer relationship between Moscow and Pyongyang, the video highlights the North’s relentless measures to conceal even the smallest clues about Kim’s health.

According to Japan’s Nikkei, citing South Korean and Japanese intelligence, Kim even brought along his own toilet on his signature green train to Beijing — a long-standing tactic to prevent foreign agencies from collecting and analyzing his biological waste.

North Korea leadership expert Michael Madden of the U.S.-based Stimson Center explained the rationale:

“The special toilet and the requisite garbage bags of detritus, waste, and cigarette butts are so that a foreign intelligence agency, even a friendly one, does not acquire a sample and test it.

This could provide insight into any medical conditions affecting Kim Jong Un — including hair and skin tags.”

A Pattern of Precaution
Such strict sanitization protocols are not new.

In 2019, after Kim’s summit with U.S. President Donald Trump in Hanoi, his guards spent hours cleaning his hotel room and were seen removing items, including a bed mattress.

In 2018, before Kim sat with South Korean President Moon Jae-in, his security sprayed and wiped down a chair and desk with sanitizer.

Similarly, during a 2023 summit with Putin, security guards disinfected Kim’s chair and even ran a metal detector across the seat before allowing him to sit.

The latest episode in Beijing underscores how North Korea continues to prioritize secrecy and security, even in seemingly friendly diplomatic settings?

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