Kim returns home from 'goodwill visit' to Russia: State media

By Al Mayadeen English
Source: Agencies
19 Sep 2023 08:03

Pyongyang's Korean Central News Agency says during his nine-day tour, Kim opened a new chapter of the development of the DPRK-Russia relations.

DPRK leader Kim Jong Un waves before boarding a train during a farewell ceremony at the end of his visit to Russia at the Artyom railway station near Vladivostok, in the Primorsky region, on September 17, 2023 (Government of Primorsky region/AFP)

DPRK leader Kim Jong Un has "completed his official goodwill visit" to Russia and returned home, state media confirmed on Tuesday, adding that the trip had "opened a new chapter" in Pyongyang-Moscow ties.

During Kim's tour of Russia's Far East, which began Tuesday and included a summit with Russian President Vladimir Putin, the DPRK leader inspected everything from Russian space rockets to submarines.

His six-day visit also included a symbolic exchange of rifles with Putin, with Kim declaring that bilateral ties with Russia were his "number one priority." He also invited the Russian leader to visit Pyongyang, which Putin accepted.

Pyongyang's Korean Central News Agency (KCNA), on Tuesday, said Kim "completed his official visit to the Russian Federation and passed through the Tumangang Railway Station, the border station, on early Monday morning."

During his nine-day tour, Kim "further deepened the comradely fellowship and friendly ties with Russian President Putin... and opened a new chapter of the development of the DPRK-Russia relations."

This comes shortly after Russian Ambassador to the United Nations, Vassily Nebenzia, expressed his frustration with Western nations for obstructing progress on a joint resolution by Russia and China aimed at easing sanctions against the DPRK.

Nebenzia criticized the Western bloc's actions as unjustified, suggesting that their refusal to support the humanitarian resolution constituted a breach of the Council's resolutions' spirit.

The Russian envoy lamented that instead of pursuing a more conciliatory approach, the United States and its allies continued to issue threats and impose new unlawful sanctions.

Nebenzia told Sputnik that although the United States has not proposed bilateral meetings between the two countries during the high-level week of the UN General Assembly in New York, Moscow will take such an offer into consideration like any other.