North Korean leader Kim Jong-un and American President Donald Trump have met in Singapore for an unprecedented summit, but one detail has left observers with not a few questions: Why has Kim brought a toilet all the way from North Korea with him?

While it is common for world leaders traveling abroad to surround themselves with armed guards and bulletproof transportation, this reported precaution has struck some as a little unorthodox.

It turns out that it is common procedure for Kim to install private toilets not only in his transportation vehicles, but also at the locations he visits – even on home ground.

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As quoted in Slate, according to Lee Yun-keol, a former North Korean guard who defected in 2005, the practice is because “the leader’s excretions contain information about his health status so they can’t be left behind”.

As Kim was known for being a highly private person, South Korean media reported that a portable toilet “will deny determined sewer divers insights into the supreme leader’s stools”.

The Singapore summit marks Kim’s first international flight since he took over from his father in 2011, as well as the first time a North Korean leader has flown abroad in more than three decades. (sul/wng)