China beefs up security in town bordering North Korea ahead of Trump-Kim summit
Dandong, home to a railway bridge connecting China to North Korea, has been under tight security ahead of the US-North Korea summit.
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| The bridge connecting Chinese and North Korean territories in Dandong town. Photo: Nikkei. |
The northern Chinese border town of Dandong is on high alert, with authorities ordering all hotels near the border bridge and Dandong railway station to cancel bookings for February 23.Asahitoday citing sources familiar with the situation.
Dandong, a town in Liaoning province, is located close to the border with North Korea and is served by the Sino-North Korean Friendship Bridge that crosses the Yalu River. Security in Dandong was tightened twice when North Korean leader Kim Jong-un visited China by train and passed through the town's station in late January and March 2018.
The latest move by the Dandong government comes as North Korean leader Kim Jong-un is set to hold a summit with US President Donald Trump in Hanoi, scheduled to take place on February 27-28.
Trains are the preferred mode of transport for North Korean leaders when they travel abroad. According to South Korea's MBC, Kim Jong-un's grandfather, Kim Il-sung, traveled to the southern Chinese city of Guangzhou by train in 1958.
Japanese media on February 19 quoted a diplomatic source as saying that North Korean special envoy Kim Chang-son visited a railway station in a Vietnamese city bordering China on February 17, raising speculation that the North Korean leader could travel to Vietnam for a summit with the US President by rail.
If he chooses to travel by train, it will take Mr. Kim 3 days to travel the 4,023 km from North Korea through China to Vietnam. Korean News AgencyYonhappreviously suggested that Mr. Kim could use a special armored train to get to Hanoi via China because Vietnam's railway system "has a similar structure to the North Korean railway system."
In 2015, Vietnam put into operation a 1,435 mm wide-gauge railway line, connecting Hanoi with a border province to serve trade with China. This wide-gauge railway line only stops at Gia Lam station, not connecting to the center of Hanoi.
However, Asahi quoted a source familiar with China-North Korea diplomatic relations as saying it was still unclear exactly what vehicle Kim would use to get to Vietnam. When he went to Singapore for the summit with Trump in June 2018, Kim Jong-un used a Chinese airline.
