Video: Kim Jong Un's Staff Cleans DNA Traces After His Meeting With Putin

After North Korean leader Kim Jong Un's talks with Russian President Vladimir Putin wrapped up in Beijing, North Korean aides rushed in to wipe his seat.

Footage that surfaced on Telegram shows Kim's staff scrubbing down every surface the leader had touched. The chair's backrest was polished, its armrests wiped, and even the side table cleaned. His drinking glass was taken away on a tray.

The staff accompanying the North Korean leader meticulously erased all traces of Kim's presence.

They took the glass he drank from, wiped down the chair's upholstery, and cleaned the parts of the furniture the Korean leader had touched. pic.twitter.com/JOXVxg04Ym

— Russian Market (@runews) September 3, 2025

"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."

Yunashev added that despite the bizarre clean-up, the meeting ended on a positive note, with both Kim and Putin leaving "very satisfied" before sharing tea together.

The reason for Kim's forensic-level precautions is unclear. Analysts suggest it may be fear of Russia's security services or anxiety about China's surveillance. But Kim is not alone in guarding his biological footprint.

Putin himself is said to go to extraordinary lengths to prevent DNA theft, reportedly having bodyguards collect his urine and faecal matter in sealed bags whenever he travels abroad, a practice in place since 2017.

That same protocol was allegedly followed during Putin's meeting with Donald Trump in Alaska, when Russian security operatives carried the president's waste back to Moscow in suitcases.

At the Beijing talks Kim pledged full solidarity with Moscow, "If there is anything I can or must do for you and the Russian people, I consider it my duty as a fraternal obligation," he told Putin, who responded warmly by addressing him as "Dear Chairman of State Affairs."

Putin thanked Pyongyang for sending troops to Ukraine, though reports suggest that of the 13,000 North Korean soldiers deployed, nearly 2,000 have already been killed.

Kim's trip was his first to China since the pandemic, giving him the stage not only to meet Putin and Xi Jinping but also to connect with more than two dozen world leaders who gathered to mark Japan's surrender in World War II.

Now bound by a 2024 mutual defence pact, Moscow and Pyongyang are closer than they've been in decades, united by sanctions standing in defiance of the West.