concluded in Beijing, North Korean staff carefully wiped off all the items Kim had touched.

Source: Reuters

Quote from Reuters: "Even with the appearance of budding friendship between Kim and Putin, footage on Wednesday showed the reclusive state's extraordinary measures to conceal any clues about Kim's health."

Details: Reuters reported that Kremlin journalist Alexander Yunashev shared a video on Telegram showing two of Kim’s aides cleaning the room where the North Korean leader and Putin spent more than two hours.

They meticulously wiped the back and armrests of the chair Kim had sat on and the coffee table beside it. Kim's drinking glass was removed entirely.

South Korean and Japanese intelligence services reported that the North Korean leader brought his own toilet with him, just as he has on earlier overseas visits.

These measures are standard protocol dating back to Kim’s father and predecessor, Kim Jong Il, according to Michael Madden, an expert on North Korean leadership at the US-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.

He explained that hair and skin particles could provide insights into potential medical issues affecting the North Korean leader.

Reuters reiterated that Kim's team had taken such security measures before. After the summit with Donald Trump in Hanoi in 2019, Kim's guards spent several hours cleaning his hotel room and removing items, including a bed mattress.

North Korean security personnel prepared for Kim’s 2018 meeting with then-South Korean President Moon Jae-in by spraying the chair and desk with sanitiser and thoroughly wiping them down before he sat.

Ahead of the 2023 summit with Putin, Kim's aides not only disinfected the chair but also checked it with a metal detector.

Background:Previously, journalists observed that Putin is accompanied abroad by a security aide who collects his urine and excrement from toilets into a suitcase and takes it back to Russia.

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