North Korean leader Kim Jong Un reportedly brought his own toilet to Singapore, as he made his farthest trip outside North Korea since he assumed power in anticipation for the historic summit between US President Donald Trump and himself.
According to the Daily NK, Kim reportedly always travels with several toilets even when he is travelling in trains, midsize or small cars like his Mercedes. An unnamed source told South Korean website that reports North Korea news in 2015 that it is “unthinkable in a Suryeong-based (supreme leader-based) society for him to have to use a public restroom just because he travels around the country.”
According to another South Korean publication, the Chosun Ilbo, Kim travels with portable lavatories because such toilets “will deny determined sewer divers insights into to the supreme leader’s stools.”
A defected ex-North Korean Guard Command unit member, Lee Yun-keol, corroborated this as he told the Washington Post, “Rather than using a public restroom, the leader of North Korea has a personal toilet that follows him around when he travels. The leader’s excretions contain information about his health status so they can’t be left behind.”
Interestingly, North Korea expert Jeffrey Lewis suggested tongue-in-cheek in January that the US bomb Kim’s personal lavatory to frighten him: “It will send an unmistakable message: We can kill you while you are dropping a deuce.”
Lewis made the suggestion during a time when speculation of a US strike on North Korea was rife. In just six months, US-North Korea relations have made quite a drastic turn, with the two leaders meeting in Singapore in what is touted to be a historic opportunity for world peace.
THE SUMMIT SO FAR
The meeting is presently progressing at the Capella Hotel in Sentosa. Trump and Kim kicked off the unprecedented meeting with a handshake and proceeded to speak to reporters for a few minutes before entering into a private session. The pair participated in an an extended bilateral meeting with their aides, following the one-on-one session, before they broke for a working lunch.
Kim told the media, “The way to come here was not easy … the old prejudices and practices worked as obstacles, but we have overcome them and we are here today” while Trump revealed after the one-on-one session that the meeting was “Very good, very very good…Working together, we will get it taken care of.”
After the pair took a walk around the Capella Hotel following lunch, President Trump told reporters that the summit has so far been a “really fantastic meeting. A lot of progress, really very positive. I think it’s better than anybody could have expected. Top of the line, really good.”
He added, “We’re going right now for a signing.”
Although it remains unclear what exactly may be signed, a US official has just indicated that the document that is to be signed declares that progress has been made and involves a promise by both sides to keep the momentum going.