North Korea's Kim Jong Un has travelled to Russia ahead of his talks with President Vladimir Putin in Vladivostok. Amid stalled nuclear talks with the US, Kim is expected to seek diplomatic assistance from the Kremlin.
Kim was met by Russian officials including Russia's ambassador in Pyongyang Alexander Matsegora. He walked the red carpet laid out for him from the platform to the waiting limousines, with a military orchestra playing the anthem of North Korea and then the one of Russia, according to a video shared by Russia's Tass news agency.
Kim then headed to Vladivostok's Russky Island where the summit is set to take place. His car was accompanied by a group of bodyguards until he left the area.
Upon crossing the Russian border hours earlier, Kim told Russian officials he was "pleased to be on Russian soil."
"I've heard so much good things about your country and I've dreamt about spending time here for a long time," he told Russian officials he arrived hours earlier at Hasan station near the North Korean border, according to a local Russian government statement.
Kim Jong Un was given bread and salt as symbols of Russia's hospitalityImage: Reuters/Press Service of Administration of Primorsky Krai/A. Safronov
Deputy Foreign Minister Igor Morgulov and Alexander Kozlov, the minister for Russia's Far East, greeted Kim after he exited the train in Hasan. Russian officials gave the North Korean leader flowers, bread and salt, according to Russia's Tass news agency. Kim also visited a wooden house of Korean-Russian friendship, built on the border to mark the visit of his grandfather, Kim Il Sung, to the Soviet Union in 1986.
Kim was expected have dinner with Russian Deputy Prime Minister Yury Trutnev in Vladivostok later on Wednesday, South Korean media reported. The talks with President Putin, scheduled for Thursday, would likely focus on Pyongyang's nuclear program.
Closing off an island
The visit — Kim's first to Russia and his first meeting with Vladimir Putin — comes amid an impasse in nuclear talks with the United States. The much-anticipated summit between the North Korean dictator and US President Donald Trump in Hanoi broke down in February.
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Even so, Russia seeks to "consolidate the positive trends" stemming from Kim's contacts with Trump, according to Kremlin adviser Yuri Ushakov. In addition to China, Russia is the only other country which shares a land border with North Korea, and Moscow has indicated it would like to see sanctions on Pyongyang relaxed.
Putin and Kim are expected to meet at a university campus on Vladivostok's Russky Island. Russian maritime authorities have announced that the waters around the island will be closed to all maritime traffic during the summit. The North Korean dictator is due to head back home on Friday.
Kim Jong Un became the leader of North Korea in 2011, after succeeding his late father, Kim Jong Il.
The truth and myths of the Kim dynasty
The Kim family has ruled North Korea for the last seven decades, with state-run propaganda praising Kim Il Sung, Kim Jong Il, and Kim Jong Un as godlike figures. DW looks at the rulers behind the myths.
Image: picture alliance / dpa
A young leader
Kim Il Sung, the first and "eternal" president of North Korea, took power in 1948 with the support of the Soviet Union. The official calendar in North Korea begins with his birth year, 1912, designating it "Juche 1" after the state's Juche ideology. He was 41 when, as shown here, he signed the 1953 armistice that effectively ended the Korean War.
Image: picture-alliance/dpa
Hero worship
In the years and decades after the war, Pyongyang's propaganda machine worked hard to weave a mythical narrative around Kim Il Sung. His childhood and the time he spent fighting Japanese troops in the 1930s were embellished to portray him as an unrivaled military and political genius.
At the 1980 party congress, Kim announced he would be succeeded by his son, Kim Jong Il.
Image: picture-alliance/AP Photo
Ruling to the end
In 1992, Kim Il Sung started writing and publishing his memoirs, entitled "Reminiscences: With the Century." Describing his childhood, the North Korean leader claims that he first joined an anti-Japanese rally at 6 years old and became involved with the independence struggle at 8.
The memoirs remained unfinished at Kim Il Sung's death in 1994.
Image: Getty Images/AFP/JIJI Press
In his father's footsteps
After spending years in the top tiers of the regime, Kim Jong Il took power after his father's death. Kim Jong Il's 16-year rule was marked by famine and economic crisis in an already impoverished country. However, the cult of personality surrounding him and his father, Kim Il Sung, grew even stronger.
Image: Getty Images/AFP/KCNA via Korean News Service
Rising star
Historians outside North Korea believe Kim Jong Il was born in a military camp in eastern Russia, most likely in 1941. However, the leader's official biography claims it happened on the sacred Korean mountain Paektu, exactly 30 years after his father, on April 15, 1942. A North Korean legend says the birth was blessed by a new star and a double rainbow.
Image: picture-alliance/AP Photo
Family trouble
Kim Jong Il had three sons and two daughters with three different women. This 1981 photo shows Kim Jong Il sitting besides his son Kim Jong Nam, with his sister-in-law and her two children in the background. Kim Jong Nam was eventually assassinated in 2017.
Image: picture-alliance/dpa
Grooming a successor
In 2009, Western media reported that Kim Jong Il had picked his youngest son, Kim Jong Un, to take over as the head of the regime. The two appeared together at a military parade on 2010, a year before Kim Jong Il passed away.
Image: picture-alliance/AP Photo/V. Yu
Together
According to Pyongyang, the death of Kim Jong Il in 2011 was marked by a series of mysterious events. State media reported that ice snapped loudly at a lake on the Paektu mountain during a sudden snowstorm, with a glowing message appearing on the rocks.
After Kim Jong Il's death, a 22-meter (72-foot) statue of him was erected next to the one of his father (l.) in Pyongyang.
Image: picture-alliance/dpa
Mysterious past
Kim Jong Un mostly stayed out of the spotlight before his ascent to power. His exact age is disputed, but he is believed to have been born between 1982 and 1984. He was reportedly educated in Switzerland. In 2013, he surprised the world by meeting with former NBA star Dennis Rodman in Pyongyang.
Image: picture-alliance/dpa
A new cult
Like the leaders before him, Kim Jong Un is hallowed by the state's totalitarian regime. In 2015, South Korean media reported about a new teacher's manual in the North that claimed Kim Jong Un could drive at the age of 3. In 2017, state media said that a monument to the young leader would be build on Mount Paektu.
Image: picture alliance/dpa/Kctv
A Kim with a hydrogen bomb
Altough Kim took power at a younger age and with less of a public profile than his father and grandfather, he has managed to maintain his grip on power. The assassination of his half-brother Kim Jong Nam in 2017 served to cement his reputation abroad as a merciless dictator. The North Korean leader has also vastly expanded the country's nuclear arsenal.