In what was truly a sight to behold, Kim Jong-un was today escorted to lunch, in a car surrounded by a dozen jogging security guards.
The North Korean leader had just marked a milestone after earlier today becoming the first in his position to step foot in South Korea since the end of the Korean War in 1953.
He was in Seoul for a summit with South Korean President Moon Jae-in in which the leaders of the two Koreas had "sincere, candid" talks on the denuclearisation of the [region's] Peninsula" and other issues.
After crossing the Military Demarcation Line that divides their countries, Kim declared they were at the "threshold of a new history", before spending the next 1.4 hours in the South, reports News.com.au.
The scenes in which the leaders — who were launching missiles at each other mere months ago — then held hands and planted trees together were extraordinary. But those that followed were just as remarkable.
Once the leaders wrapped up talks at the South's Peace House building about how to establish peace on the Korean Peninsula and improve ties between the rivals, Kim crossed back to the North for lunch — with a dozen security guards jogging alongside his Mercedes limousine.
Footage of his journey home shows the leader travelling along major roads flanked by security guards in black suits and ties who circle the vehicle and jog along with it. The leader was expected to return to the South in a similar fashion for further meetings later Friday afternoon.
As Kim Jong Un drove away from the early session of his summit with South Korean President Moon Jae-in, 12 bodyguards were seen running beside the vehicle https://t.co/X8K3wEvsIWpic.twitter.com/XUJU3AM80d
Moon's spokesman Yoon Young-chan told reporters that during the morning meeting Kim described the North's transport conditions as poor.
Yoon said the comments came after Moon expressed a desire to travel across North Korea to visit Mount Paektu that touches the country's border with China.
According to Yoon, Kim said in response that such a trip might be currently uncomfortable for Moon because the country's transport system was deficient. Yoon claimed Kim also said North Korean delegates who visited the South during February's Winter Olympics also came back impressed with South Korea's bullet train service.
A vehicle carrying North Korean leader Kim Jong Un and his wife Ri Sol Ju, leaves for North Korea after meeting with South Korean President Moon Jae-in. Photo / AP
Moon reportedly said North Koreans would also be able to enjoy the South's high-speed trains if the rivals improve relations and reconnect their rail networks across the border.
North Korean roads are often bumpy and poorly maintained. Kim earlier this month met with China's ambassador and visited a hospital where Chinese tourists were being treated after a deadly bus crash killed 32 in North Korea.
The Guard Command, a branch of the Korean People's Army, and the Pyongyang Defence Command, is the military unit tasked with ensuring the safety of the leadership.
South Korean President Moon Jae-in, (right), and North Korean leader Kim Jong Un talk at the border village of Panmunjom in the Demilitarized Zone, South Korea. Photo / AP
Chief of North Korean studies at the Korea Institute for Defence Analyses Lee Ho-ryung said members of the Guard Command who escort Kim Jong Un are "technically soldiers".
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.
