Kim Jong-il to visit FE, Siberia regions, meet with RF president

20/8 Tass 52

MOSCOW, August 20 (Itar-Tass) -- General Secretary of the Workers'
Party of Korea and Chairman of the National Defence Commission of the
Democratic People's Republic of Korea Kim Jong-il began his visit to
Russia on Saturday, the Kremlin press service reported.
The North Korean leader plans to visit regions of the Far East and
Siberian Federal Districts.
The main event of the visit will be his meeting with Russian President
Dmitry Medvedev, the press service said.
Kim visited Russia twice before. He paid the first official visit ten
years ago. It was unprecedented for the duration. From July 26 to August
18, 2001, the North Korean leader traveled by rail across Russia's
territory from Vladivostok to Moscow and St. Petersburg. His train stopped
in Novosibirsk, Omsk, Khabarovsk and other cities.
His talks with Vladimir Putin, Russian President at that time,
resulted in the signing of the Moscow Declaration, in which the sides
confirmed the intention to support global stability maintaining and
consolidate bilateral relations, first of all in the trade and economic
sphere.
The North Korean leader visited Russia for the second time in August
2002. It was a four-day trip to the Far East with the aim to study the
region's economic policy.
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