High-level meeting in Beijing

Everything Kim touched when he met Putin was cleaned

After Kim Jong-Un's meeting with his Russian counterpart Vladimir Putin in the Chinese capital Beijing, North Korean staff were seen carefully wiping down everything the country's leader touched, Reuters reports.

Analysts say the cleaning is not about cleanliness, but is a security measure to prevent foreign intelligence services from getting hold of traces of his health.

The cleaning is only a small part of the work to hide the biological traces of Kim, who for this reason, among other things, travels with his own toilet.

- The toilet and the garbage bags with leftovers, waste and cigarette butts are there so that a foreign intelligence service, even a friendly one, will not be able to get hold of a sample and analyze it, says North Korea expert Michael Madden. 

Xi to meet Kim to “deepen exchanges”

Chinese President Xi Jinping and North Korean dictator Kim Jong-Un are to meet for talks, Beijing said, AFP reported.

According to a spokesperson for the Chinese Foreign Ministry, China is ready to cooperate with North Korea to “strengthen strategic communication [...] and deepen the exchange of experience in governance.”

Kim traveled to China earlier this week to attend Wednesday’s grand military parade. It was the first time that Kim, Xi and Putin appeared in public together.