North Korean leader Kim Jong Un waves as he boards a train at a train station in Artyom, outside Vladivostok, Russia’s Primorsky Region, on September 17, 2023. Government of Russia by Primorsky Krai/File photo of Russia Obtain licensing rights
SEOUL, Sept 18 (Reuters) – North Korean leader Kim Jong Un is going home on Monday, mostly with gifts from Russian hosts including guns, astronaut gloves and military drones – which are in violation of U.N. sanctions. .
The following are some of the items he will bring back to the “Friendship” museum where gifts received by three generations of Northern leaders are kept.
Gifts from Russia
After his summit with Russian President Putin, Kimlin received a “high-quality” Russian-made rifle, according to spokesman Dmitry Peskov. Kim exchanged a gun “made by North Korean craftsmen” for Putin.
Putin also presented a glove from the spacesuit he wore in space, Russia’s TASS news agency reported.
Oleg Kozhemiako, governor of the Primorsky region, presented Kim with modern, lightweight body armor designed for offensive operations that protects the chest, shoulders, throat and waist, Russian media reported.
Kim was given five one-way attack drones and one Geranium-25 spy drone, which is widely used in the war in Ukraine, Doss reported.
That violates At least two UN Resolutions Against the North, where Moscow voted for banned missile and nuclear activities.
Kim received a fur hat from Defense Minister Sergei Shoigu in Vladivostok, where he inspected Russian nuclear bombers, fighter jets equipped with hypersonic missiles and a warship.
Russia’s RIA news agency reported that there was a struggle to find the correct size of the cap. Alexander Matsekora, Russia’s ambassador to Pyongyang, suggested a size slightly smaller than his own “very large head,” which turned out to be correct.
“It is also important that it was a gift from the heart. Comrade Kim Jong Un liked it,” Matsekora said.
Kim began his journey with a stop in the Russian border city of Kazan, where he was presented with a photo of cosmonaut Yuri Gagarin, the first man to orbit the Earth.
‘Comparable to the Louvre’
North Korea has gone to great lengths to display the gifts Kim and his father Kim Jong-il and grandfather and state founder Kim Il Sung received from foreign dignitaries, dedicating a special museum to them.
Located in the foothills of Mount Myohyangsan, 160 km (99 mi) from Pyongyang, the International Friendship Fair is two imposing concrete structures built in a traditional architectural style with blue-tiled roofs.
Opened in 1978, the museum has more than 100 showrooms, with more than 115,000 items from more than 200 countries, according to the North’s state media.
North Korea’s state media said the size and importance of the collection is comparable to that of the Louvre in Paris.
Who else sent gifts?
The collection includes crystalware sent from former US President Jimmy Carter, a tea cup from French President Francois Mitterrand, a basketball signed by US Secretary of State Madeleine Albright Michael Jordan in 2000, and a gun from the late Cuban leader. Fidel Castro.
The campaign plays heavily into how gifts from South Koreans are displayed, with former president Kim Dae-jung’s big-screen TV set engaging Pyongyang with peace policies, garnering prominent views.
Hyundai Motor’s flagship Dynasty sedan was gifted to Kim Jong Il after the 2000 inter-Korean summit by Chung Ju-yung, the North Korean-born founder of Hyundai Group, who spearheaded investment in the North.
(This story has been reprinted to correct a typo in paragraph 17)
Reporting by Jack Kim in Seoul and Lydia Kelly in Melbourne. Editing by Gerry Doyle
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