September 4, 2025 | 08:02 pm
TEMPO.CO, Jakarta - North Korean staffers wiped all traces of Kim Jong Un after his meeting with Russian President Vladimir Putin in Beijing. Items touched by Kim Jong Un were immediately cleaned by his staff. Despite Xi Jinping warmly welcoming Kim Jong Un, North Korea remained cautious and concealed any clues related to the health of its leader.
In a post on Telegram, Kremlin reporter Alexander Yunashev shared a video of two of Kim's staff carefully cleaning the room in the Chinese capital, where Kim and Putin met for over two hours. The chair's backrest and armrest were wiped, and the coffee table next to Kim's seat was also cleaned. Kim's drinking glass was removed.
"After the negotiations were over, the staff accompanying the head of the DPRK carefully destroyed all traces of Kim's presence," said the reporter quoted from CNA, referring to South Korea.
After talks in the room, Kim Jong Un and Putin went for tea. They bid each other a warm farewell.
Similar to his other foreign trips, Kim Jong Un packed his own toilet on the distinctive green train that took him to Beijing. He disposed of his urine or feces to conceal health clues, according to the Japanese newspaper Nikkei, which cited intelligence agencies in South Korea and Japan.
Such actions have been standard protocol since the era of Kim Jong Il, Kim Jong Un's father, disclosed Michael Madden, a North Korean leadership expert from the U.S.-based Stimson Center.
"The special toilet and the requisite garbage bags of detritus, waste and cigarette butts are so that a foreign intelligence agency, even a friendly one, does not acquire a sample and test it," Madden said.
"It would provide insight into any medical conditions affecting Kim Jong Un. This can include hair and skin tags," he added.
In 2019, after the summit in Hanoi with U.S. President Donald Trump, Kim's guards were seen blocking the floor of his hotel room to clean the room for hours. They also took traces throughout the room, including on the bed.
Kim's staffers also carefully cleansed items before he used them.
During his meeting with South Korean President Moon Jae-in at the time, North Korean security guards sprayed and wiped chairs and tables with a cleaning solution before Kim sat down.
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