Kim Jong Un, chairman of the State Affairs Commission of North Korea, departed by his private train on the 1st to attend the 80th anniversary of China's Victory Day, the Korean Central News Agency reported on the 2nd. Yonhap News Agency. 

The special train carrying Kim Jong Un, chairman of the State Affairs Commission of North Korea, to attend the 80th anniversary of China's Victory Day passed through the North Korea-China border on the 2nd.

This is Kim's first visit to China in six years and eight months, since January 2019.

North Korea's state-run radio station, Korean Central Broadcasting, reported on the day, "Comrade Kim Jong Un departed Pyongyang by his special train on September 1st to attend the '80th Anniversary of the Victory of the Chinese People's War of Resistance Against Japan and the World Anti-Fascist War'," adding, "The special train crossed the border early on the 2nd."

Photos released by the Korean Central News Agency show that individuals presumed to be Foreign Minister Choe Son-hui and Kim Song Nam, director of the Workers' Party of Korea's International Department, were traveling with Kim on his private train in his office car.

Photos were also released showing Kim smoking a cigarette in front of the train and conversing with Foreign Minister Choe, as well as party secretaries Jo Yong Won and Kim Tok Hun. It is unclear whether Jo Yong Won and Kim Tok Hun were on the train with him or simply came to see him off.

There was no mention in the article or confirmation in the photos of whether his wife, Ri Sol Ju, or daughter, Ju Ae, or his younger sister, Kim Yo Jong, deputy director of the Workers' Party of Korea's International Department, accompanied him.

The Central Broadcasting only stated, "Key leading cadres of the Central Committee of the Workers' Party of Korea and the Government of the Democratic People's Republic of Korea are accompanying Comrade Kim Jong Un on his visit to the People's Republic of China," without revealing a specific list of attendees.

It is unusual for North Korea to announce its top leader's overseas visit immediately after departure.

When he departed from Pyongyang on September 10, 2023, to visit Russia, the news was reported through state media two days later, on September 12.

It is presumed that the train carrying Kim crossed the border using the Amnokgang Railway Bridge connecting Sinuiju and Dandong, China, and is expected to arrive in Beijing today.

Kim is scheduled to attend the 80th anniversary military parade in Beijing on the 3rd, at the invitation of Chinese President Xi Jinping, along with Russian President Vladimir Putin and others.

Yonhap News Agency