The unusual spectacle unfolded on Wednesday, shortly after the North Korean and Russian leaders held talks following a grand military parade in Beijing, where Chinese President Xi Jinping showcased his nation’s growing diplomatic clout.
In a scene that looked more like a crime drama than diplomatic protocol, a video has surfaced online showing North Korean staff frantically scrubbing and sanitising every object Kim Jong Un touched during his meeting with Vladimir Putin in China.
The unusual spectacle unfolded on Wednesday, shortly after the North Korean and Russian leaders held talks following a grand military parade in Beijing, where Chinese President Xi Jinping showcased his nation’s growing diplomatic clout.
Footage posted on Telegram shows two of Kim’s aides moving swiftly into action once the meeting concluded. One staffer carefully polished the backrest of the chair Kim had occupied, while another carried away his drinking glass on a tray with the precision of a forensic investigator.
No surface was left untouched – the wooden arms of the chair, the upholstery, and even the side table were vigorously wiped down until there was no trace of the North Korean leader’s presence.
“After the negotiations, the staff accompanying the head of the DPRK carefully destroyed all traces of Kim’s presence,” Russian journalist Alexander Yunashev reported on his channel Yunashev Live.
“They took away the glass from which he drank, wiped the upholstery of the chair and those parts of the furniture that the Korean leader touched.”
According to Yunashev, the official meeting ended on a positive note, with both Kim and Putin leaving “very satisfied” before heading off to enjoy tea together in a more relaxed setting.
The exact reason for the North Korean leader’s forensic-level decontamination remains unclear. Some speculate it may have been a precaution against Russia’s powerful security services, while others suggest unease about China’s surveillance reach. But Kim is far from the only head of state fiercely protective of his biological footprint.
Putin himself is said to go to extraordinary lengths to guard against DNA theft. Reports claim his bodyguards collect his urine and faecal matter in sealed bags whenever he travels abroad, which are then spirited back to Moscow in special suitcases. The practice, apparently in place since 2017, is believed to be designed to prevent hostile powers from gathering intelligence about the Russian president’s health.
A similar measure was reportedly in play during Putin’s high-stakes meeting with Donald Trump in Alaska. Russian security staff were said to have carried the President’s excrement back to Moscow in suitcases, underlining the Kremlin’s obsession with shielding even the most intimate details of the leader’s wellbeing.
At the Beijing talks, Kim went beyond cautious hygiene, pledging his full support to Putin. “If there is anything I can or must do for you and the Russian people, I consider it my duty as a fraternal obligation,” Kim told the Russian president, who addressed him warmly as “Dear Chairman of State Affairs”.
Putin thanked Pyongyang for sending troops to Ukraine, though reports suggest some 2,000 of the 13,000 North Korean soldiers dispatched to support Russia’s war effort have already been killed.
