North Korea’s Kim departs for Vietnam summit

North Korean leader Kim Jong-un departed Pyongyang on Saturday aboard a special train that will take him through China to Vietnam, where he is set to meet with US President Donald Trump next week.

The report came hours after Vietnam announced that Kim would make an official visit in “coming days”, as the Southeast Asian country prepares to host the summit with Trump on Wednesday and Thursday.

No details of the leaders’ travel arrangements, or for the summit, have been officially released.

Quoting a diplomatic source, the Russian news agency Tass said the armoured train set off at 5 pm local time and is expected to take Kim all the way to Vietnam, passing through China.

Earlier in the day, the Vietnamese Foreign Ministry said Kim would make an official goodwill visit to the country, but did not mention the dates and itinerary.

A landmark first summit between Trump and Kim in Singapore in June produced a promise by Kim to work toward the complete denuclearisation of the divided Korean Peninsula. But progress has been scant.

According to a tweet by the ministry, Kim will be visiting at the invitation of President Nguyen Phu Trong. In conjunction with the US-North Korea summit, Kim and Trong are expected to meet for talks, among events related to bilateral ties.

Kim's train will reportedly stop at the Vietnamese border station of Dong Dang, after which he will proceed by car to Hanoi, with local authorities planning to close the stretch of road that he will travel on between the station and the capital.

It could take Kim at least two and a half days to travel thousands of kilometres through China by train to Vietnam.