INGGRIS
North Korean leader Kim Jong-un. (Photo: Reuters)
SEOUL - Kim Jong-un became the first North Korean leader to cross the South Korean border when he attends an inter-Korean summit in Panmujom Village on Friday.
In addition to the historic, the meeting was also the first inter-Korean summit held since more than a decade ago. The last inter-Korean summit to be held in 2007 brought Kim Jong-un's ruling father, Kim Jong-il with South Korean President Roh Moo-hyun.
This summit discussion will focus on the denuclearization of the Korean Peninsula and the exchange between the two North Koreans and South Koreans. Recently Kim Jong-un has announced it will suspend its ballistic missile tests and nuclear tests for economic and peace advancement.
Seeing the importance of this event, many preparations are made ahead of the historic meeting, ranging from logistics, security, sitting position placement to the problem of defecation. Although Kim Jong-un agreed on the issue of seating arrangements at the summit, he reportedly refused to use public toilets at inter-Korean summit locations.
"Instead of using public toilets, the North Korean leader has a private toilet that follows him when he travels," said Lee Yun-keol, a defector who had served in the North Korean Guard as reported by CBS News on Friday (27/4/2018).
Lee said the reason for the use of private toilets is to avoid information leakage.
"The North Korean leader's filth contains information about his health status so they can not be abandoned,"
Similar travel considerations are reported every time the North Korean leader conducts inspections on the grounds of military bases and state-owned factories across the country. In fact, preached by the South Korean news agency Daily NK, there is a special bathroom built inside Kim's motorcade at all times.
"The toilet is not only on Kim Jong-un's private train, but also any small or medium-sized car that he rides on and even in special vehicles designed for mountain or snow fields," a source told DailyNK in 2015.
"There are a lot of vehicles inside the convoy so people do not know where he is, and there is a separate car that serves as his bathroom."
This inter-Korean summit also seems to be no different from any other trip Kim has made. She will use her private toilet instead of public toilets.
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