When the top leader of North Korea travels abroad, its secretive government often does not confirm the trip until he has arrived at his destination, or even after he has returned home.

当朝鲜最高领导人出国访问时，这个神秘的政府往往要等他到达目的地，甚至在他回国后才会对他的行程予以证实。

So​ when both China and North Korea announced last week that Kim Jong-un would attend a military parade in Beijing on Wednesday, overseas intelligence officials ​began looking for the whereabouts of a train painted a drab green.

因此，当中朝两国上周宣布金正恩将于周三出席北京的阅兵式时，海外情报人员开始追踪一列深绿色涂装的列车行踪。

Th​at train, known in North Korea simply as “The Sun,” is Mr. Kim’s bulletproof private vehicle. His father and his grandfather, who ruled the country before him, also used it, and a fourth-generation Kim was aboard when it reached Beijing on Tuesday, according to state media: Mr. Kim’s young daughter, Kim Ju-ae, who is increasingly being seen as a potential successor.

这列在朝鲜境内被简称为“太阳号”的列车是金正恩的防弹专列。他的父亲和祖父——即此前统治该国的两代领导人——也曾使用该列车。据官方媒体报道，本周二列车抵达北京时，车上还载着金氏家族的第四代成员：金正恩的幼女金主爱，外界正日益视其为潜在接班人。

朝鲜官方媒体周二发布的这张照片显示，中国外交部长王毅前往迎接到访的金正恩。右侧为金正恩的女儿。

China ​organized the military parade ​to mark the 80th anniversary of the end of the Sino-Japanese War and World War II.​ It has invited heads of state from more than 20 countries to attend, including countries hostile toward the United States like Russia and Iran​. The event will be Mr. Kim’s debut on a multilateral diplomatic ​stage— and his daughter’s.

中国为纪念抗日战争暨世界反法西斯战争胜利80周年举行阅兵式，邀请了20多个国家的国家元首出席，其中包括俄罗斯和伊朗等对美国怀有敌意的国家。此次活动将成为金正恩以及他的女儿首次亮相多边外交舞台。

Here is what we know about the train, which took Mr. Kim to China for his first trip there since 2019.

这辆列车载着金正恩前往中国，进行他自2019年以来的首次访华，以下是我们目前掌握的专列信息。

Family Ride

家族列车

The Kim family, which has ruled North Korea since the country was founded at the end of World War II, has a long history of traveling by rail to China, Russia and other parts of what was then the Soviet Union.​

自“二战”结束朝鲜建国以来，金氏家族一直统治着这个国家，家族成员素有乘专列前往中国、俄罗斯及前苏联其他地区的传统。

Mr. Kim’s father, Kim Jong-il, was said to have a fear of flying. He used the train exclusively for trips to China and Russia, including a ​three-week, ​12,400-mile round trip to Moscow in 2001.​ If he was aerophobic, he was also a great lover of train travel.

据说金正恩的父亲金正日有飞行恐惧症。他只乘坐这列火车前往中国和俄罗斯旅行，包括2001年为期三周、往返历程约2万公里的莫斯科之行。如果说他真的害怕坐飞机，那么他同时也是火车旅行的狂热爱好者。

2001年，金世家族专列在俄罗斯新西伯利亚。当时金正恩的父亲金正日正乘车前往莫斯科。

“If you travel by plane​, you do not see anything of the country but the airports and the capital, while traveling by train gives one the opportunity to see the expanses and the cities, the nature, and to stop and set the foot on the ground, to see reality with one’s own eyes, and to meet and to talk with the locals,” Kim Jong-il once told his Russian hosts, according to​ an account by Georgy Toloraya​, a former Russian diplomat.

“乘飞机旅行只能看到机场和首都，乘火车则能饱览辽阔的土地、城市与自然风光，还能停下脚步踏上大地，亲眼见证现实，与当地人交流对话，“据前俄罗斯外交官格奥尔基·托洛拉亚记载，金正日曾对俄方东道主这样说。

Kim Jong-un, like his grandfather, Kim Il-sung, does not seem to​ mind traveling by plane. He flew on a Soviet-era jet when he visited China in 2018.

金正恩与祖父金日成相似，似乎并不排斥航空出行。2018年访华时，他乘坐的正是苏联时期制造的喷气式飞机。

But North Korean officials are not confident that their decrepit fleet of Soviet planes can cover longer distances, according to South Korean officials.

但据韩国官员称，朝鲜官员对老旧的苏制飞机能否完成长途航行缺乏信心。

​Kim Jong-un has used the train on two other trips to China, and ​for trips to Russia’s far east in 2019 and 2023.​ When he had to cross an ocean in 2018, to make the 3,000-mile trip to Singapore to meet with President Trump​, Beijing rented him a Boeing 747​.

金正恩曾两次乘坐该专列访问中国，并于2019年及2023年乘此专列赴俄远东地区。2018年，当他不得不跨越大洋前往约4000公里外的新加坡与特朗普总统会面时，北京曾租借波音747专机供他使用。

​The Kim family’s train has featured heavily in state propaganda over the years, ferrying the dictators abroad and around North Korea on frequent visits to military units and farming towns. Kim Jong-il died on the train, of heart failure, during one such trip in 2011, according to state media. His private carriage is on display at a mausoleum in Pyongyang, where he lies in state.

多年来，金氏家族专列一直是国家宣传的重要内容，它载着独裁者们前往国外，并频繁穿梭于朝鲜境内的军事单位和农业城镇。据官方媒体报道，金正日在2011年的一次专列行程中死于心脏衰竭。他的私人车厢现陈列在平壤的一座陵墓，与金正日遗体放在一起。

Slow Ride

行驶缓慢

​Kim Jong-un has continued the family tradition, using the train as an office on wheels​. Last year, he took it to flood-stricken provinces and presided over a Politburo meeting in one of its cars, with the officials seated around a long desk, according to footage released by state media.

金正恩延续家族传统，将专列作为移动办公室使用。据官方媒体公布的视频显示，去年，他乘坐专列前往视察遭受洪灾的地区时，在火车上主持了政治局会议，与会官员围坐在一张长桌旁。

​The train ​is equipped with ​couches, satellite phones, computers and TV sets. Its crew is said to include a small army of ​bodyguards​ and medical staff. Heavy weapons are also aboard, and many of the cars have bulletproof plating, especially the ones where Mr. Kim works and sleeps, according to South Korean officials. ​The train has also carried Mr. Kim’s bulletproof sedan​s.

火车上配备了沙发、卫星电话、电脑和电视机。据说随行人员包括精锐的保镖和医疗团队。车上还载有重型武器，韩国官员透露，许多车厢都装有防弹装甲，尤其是金正恩工作和休息的区域。专列同时运载着领导人的防弹轿车。

朝鲜国家通讯社发布的另一张照片显示，金正恩周一与两名助手乘坐列车前往北京。

The extra​ weight of all that hardware, along with the decrepit state of ​North Korea’s rail system, makes for a slow ride​. The train can reach​ a maximum speed of just 37 miles per hour​ inside North Korea, according to experts in South Korea. It 2019, it took Mr. Kim nearly three days to cross​ North Korea and China on the train and reach Hanoi​, Vietnam, for his second summit with Mr. Trump.

所有这些重型装备以及朝鲜陈旧的铁路系统令列车行驶缓慢。据韩国专家称，这列火车在朝鲜境内的最高时速仅为60公里。2019年，金正恩乘坐该列车穿越朝中两国，耗时近三天抵达越南河内，与特朗普举行第二次峰会。

Luxury Ride

豪华专列

The train has long been said to be stocked with supplie​s that cater​ to ​the ruling Kim’s whims.

据说专列长期备有大量物资，以满足金家统治者的突发奇想。

“It was possible to order any dish of Russian, Chinese, Korean, Japanese and French cuisine,” wrote Konstantin Pulikovsky, a Russian official who traveled with Kim Jong-il​ during one of his Russian trips.

“无论俄式、中式、韩式、日式还是法式菜肴都能随叫随到，”曾随金正日访俄的俄罗斯官员康斯坦丁·普利科夫斯基写道。

Mr. Kim insisted that live lobster and other fresh delicacies be delivered to the train as it crossed Siberia, Mr. Pulikovsky said. Cases of Bordeaux and Burgundy wines were flown in from Paris, the Russian official recounted in his memoir of the trip, “Orient Express.”

普利科夫斯基在他关于这次旅行的回忆录《东方快车》中写道，金正日要求列车穿越西伯利亚时必须供应活龙虾等新鲜珍馐。成箱的波尔多和勃艮第葡萄酒从巴黎空运而来。

​Mr. Toloraya, the former diplomat, said Kim Jong-il was accompanied on one Russia trip by several singers and actors, who performed for him and his guests in both Korean and Russian. South Korean intelligence officials suspect that Kim Jong-un has inherited his father’s penchant for wining and dining, though no similar anecdotes from his trips have been made public.

前外交官托罗拉亚表示，金正日的一次俄罗斯之行有多名歌手和演员陪同，他们用朝俄双语为金正日及其宾客献艺。韩国情报官员怀疑金正恩继承了父亲的宴饮癖好，不过类似轶闻尚未见诸报道。