In Summary
SEOUL,
When
Pyongyang's leader Kim Jong-un came down the steps towards the
inter-Korean border Friday he was escorted by a phalanx of bodyguards
carefully chosen for their fitness, marksmanship, martial
arts skills
and even looks.
Men in sharp suits
and matching blue and white striped ties fanned out ahead of and around
Kim as he approached the Military Demarcation Line for a historic
handshake with his Southern counterpart Moon Jae-in.
IRON-CLAD
Some of the men had bulging pockets.
North Korea is one of the world's most tightly-controlled societies, but even so security for its leader is iron-clad.
Foreigners attending any event where Kim will
be present must go through hours of security procedures beforehand, and
surrender all electronics, including phones.
The
Guard Command, the military unit tasked with ensuring the safety of the
leadership, is an elite institution close to the centre of North Korean
power — it provides the centrepiece display of the annual kimjongilia
and kimilsungia flower festivals in Pyongyang to honour Kim's father and
grandfather.
Ri Yong Guk, a defector
from the North who served on a security detail for Kim Jong Il, wrote
in a 2013 memoir that as many as six different layers of security guards
protected the leader on trips to the countryside to inspect military
units, plants or farms.
"It is one of the world's tightest security blankets through which even a single ant would find it hard to go," he wrote.
The
arrangements for the current leader are reportedly even tighter, and
during a military parade marking the 70th anniversary of the foundation
of its regular armed forces in February, Pyongyang paraded three kinds
of security units dedicated to protecting Kim's life.
Kim was repeatedly seen accompanied by a stout military general in uniform with a holstered gun.
'SCRARIEST'
The
protection afforded to the Kim family was also on display when the
leader's sister Kim Yo Jong visited the South for the Pyeongchang Winter
Olympics, accompanied by tall bodyguards with crew cuts, sunglasses and
earphones.
Former US president Bill
Clinton once described the Demilitarized Zone that divides the
peninsula and where Friday's summit was being held as "the scariest
place on Earth".
Despite its name, the DMZ is among the most heavily fortified areas on the planet.
Around
50 kilometres north of the South Korean capital Seoul, the
four-kilometre-wide space stretches for 250 kilometres across Korea and
bristles with electric fences, minefields and anti-tank barriers.
At
the joint security area at Panmunjom the two sides, technically still
at war, come face-to-face, with stern South Korean guards — also chosen
for their height and looks — standing stock still only metres from the
North Korean positions.
Soldiers are
permitted to carry only sidearms in the area, but it is an open secret
that both sides have larger weapons stashed nearby for use in case of
emergencies.
In November a North Korean soldier defected under a hail of automatic rifle fire from his comrades.
Back
in 1984, a 22-year-old Soviet tourist bolted from North to South at
Panmunjom, triggering a gun battle in which three pursuing North Korean
soldiers were killed, along with a Southern trooper, although defector
Vasily Matuzok was unharmed.
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