Kim Jong-il visits Russia for talks with Dmitry Medvedev

[American Patriot]

Kim Jong-il visits Russia for talks with Dmitry Medvedev

North Korean leader arrives by armoured train on first visit to Russia in nine years, to discuss natural gas pipeline deal

• Associated Press
• guardian.co.uk, Tuesday 23 August 2011 07.23 BST
• Article history Kim Jong-il's train in Ulan-Ude. Photograph: Yonhap/EPA
  
  Kim Jong-il has travelled by armoured train to eastern Siberia for a summit with the Russian president, Dmitry Medvedev.
  The North Korean leader arrived in Ulan-Ude, the capital of Buryatia, a Buddhist province near Lake Baikal, Russian news agencies reported. Kim's motorcade left town in the direction of Turka, a picturesque village on the shores of Baikal.
  The Yonhap news agency said the Medvedev-Kim summit was expected to take place on Wednesday.
  The talks could focus on a deal for a pipeline that would stream Russian natural gas through the North's territory to the South. South Korean media said the North could earn up to $100m a year.
  There were signs that preparations were being made for Kim to visit Turka. The Baikal Daily website quoted residents as saying that a local police officer had been making the rounds to record the names and addresses of all the people in the village.
  The visit is shrouded in mystery. A few people managed to take photos of Kim at his previous stop on Sunday, but heavy police cordons kept the press in Ulan-Ude out of the train station.
  Kim's train crossed into Russia on Saturday morning and passed through Khabarovsk before heading west along a railway running roughly parallel with Russia's borders with China and Mongolia.
  It is Kim's first visit to Russia in nine years. North Korea is also pushing to restart six-nation nuclear disarmament talks in exchange for aid, after more than a year of tension during which it shelled a South Korean border island and allegedly torpedoed a South Korean warship.
  Russian military officials arrived in the North Korean capital, Pyongyang, on Monday for a five-day visit. The Russian defence ministry said the talks would focus on the renewal of military co-operation between the countries, possible joint exercises "of a humanitarian nature" and an exchange of friendly visits by Russian and North Korean ships, the Itar-Tass news agency reported.
  The North, which has long experienced chronic food shortages, has been hit with heavy flooding in recent weeks. The Korea Herald newspaper stated bluntly a strain of thinking in Seoul in an editorial on Tuesday: "It does not take genius to guess why Kim is visiting Russia. [He] desperately needs economic aid."
  
  

[American Patriot]

All aboard the armored train: North Korea's Kim Jong Il visits Russia

Trip comes amid signs that Pyongyang is increasing efforts to secure aid and restart stalled talks aimed at ending its nuclear weapons program in return for aid

1. Below:
   
2. 
   
   • x
     
     • 
     
     Jump to photos The life of Kim Jong Il
   • photos
3. 
   
   • interactive
4. 
   
   • discussion
5. 
   
   • related

Advertise | AdChoices




AFP - Getty Images Women dressed in traditional Russian costumes welcome North Korean leader Kim Jong Il at Novobureisky, Russia, on Sunday.

msnbc.com news services

updated 8/21/2011 8:41:33 AM ET

• Print
• Font:

MOSCOW — Reclusive North Korean leader Kim Jong Il toured a hydroelectric plant Sunday as his train traveled through Russia's Far East on his first visit to the Cold War-era ally in nine years.
Kim crossed into Russia on his armored train Saturday at the invitation of President Dmitry Medvedev, with the two leaders expected to meet later in the week to discuss the restart of nuclear disarmament talks and the construction of a pipeline that would stream Russian natural gas to North and South Korea.
Kim has sought help from regional powers in recent months for his impoverished nation, struggling with recent floods and economic sanctions. After reportedly securing Chinese food aid and investment in May, he is also likely to ask Russia for economic support.
The train stopped in the Russian border city of Khasan, where Kim was greeted by senior Russian officials, including Viktor Ishayev, presidential envoy to the Far East region of Russia, according to Russian and North Korean state news agencies.

1. Only on msnbc.com
   
   
   1. What crazy thing have you done to make ends meet?
   2. Cadillac aims high with flashy concept car
   3. Runaway cow on the lam
   4. Post 9/11, surveillance cameras everywhere
   5. Baby boomers may be bad news for stock market
   6. Flight attendants train for cabin pressures
   7. Dramatic shootout caught on camera

Kim's train then continued west along the Trans-Siberian Railway, stopping briefly early Sunday at the Khabarovsk railway station. Television footage obtained by The Associated Press showed policemen with dogs checking the rails and blocking access to the platform as the train arrived.
Kim's visit to the Bureyskaya hydro-electric power station in Amur province, where he watched a film on the plant and toured its dam, has fuelled speculation that the two countries could discuss energy cooperation, South Korean news agency Yonhap Seoul reported on Sunday.
A regional news agency, PortAmur, posted photographs of Kim's visit, during which he signed a guest book and watched a film about the power plant, where construction was completed in 2009.

[Luke]

Seems somewhat odd timing. I can't help but feel that Dmitry Medvedev is Putins lapdog. I wonder if NK is looking for U235 handouts?

[Phil Fiord]

BY train. That is... different.

[Toad]

Kim always travels by armored train. I can't ever recall him flying.