IN IMAGES, IN PICTURES – Accompanied by Russian Defense Minister Sergei Shoigu, the North Korean leader, very smiling, notably examined “the air component of Russia’s strategic nuclear forces”.
North Korean leader Kim Jong-un met with Russian Defense Minister Sergei Shoigu on Saturday in Vladivostok in Russia’s Far East, where he reviewed advanced Russian weapons, including a hypersonic missile system. He will still be in Russia on Sunday to discuss with the authorities in Vladivostok on the development of his country’s relations with the region, assured the regional Russian governor, quoted by the Ria Novosti news agency.
Kim Jong-un, who is making his first foreign trip to Russia since the start of the Covid-19 pandemic, arrived at Vladivostok airport on Saturday from Komsomolsk-on-Amur, where he had visited aircraft factories the day before, the state news agency Tass said.
Fighters, bombers and ships
At the Knievichi air base, he was welcomed by Sergei Shoigu who presented him with a MiG-31 fighter and its Kinjal hypersonic missile system, according to the same source. The North Korean leader, very smiling, also reviewed Tu-160, Tu-95MS and Tu-22M3 bombers. “These aircraft constitute the air component of Russia’s strategic nuclear forces.», Underlined the Ministry of Defense in a press release.
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On Wednesday, Russian President Vladimir Putin announced that Kim Jong Un would attend a “demonstration» of the Russian Pacific Fleet. In this large city located near the Chinese and North Korean borders, Kim Jong Un boarded the Russian warship Marshal Shaposhnikov, where he was welcomed by the commander of the frigate.
Also present on board, the commander-in-chief of the Russian fleet, Nikolai Levmenov, explained to the North Korean leader the characteristics of the ship and anti-submarine weapons, “quadruple torpedo tubes and RBU-6000 rocket launchers», TASS indicated.
A performance at the theater
Later Saturday, according to the Russian Ministry of Natural Resources and Ecology, he visited the Mariinsky Theater in Vladivostok to attend a performance of “The Sleeping Beauty», a ballet by the famous Russian composer Tchaikovsky. According to images broadcast on the ministry’s Telegram channel, Kim arrived in a black car, surrounded by heavy security, before rushing into the theater’s honorary box.
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At the end of the show, the regional governor, Oleg Kojemiako, affirmed that discussions between the two men were planned for Sunday on “relationship development» between North Korea and the region in the areas «sport, tourism, culture (and) commerce“. In Vladivostok, Kim Jong-un must also “visit the Far Eastern Federal University and some facilities of the Russian Academy of Sciences, whose laboratories work on marine biology», Detailed Vladimir Putin on Russian television.