N. Korean leader heads to Siberia, Russia's Far East for summit

By Kim Kwang-tae SEOUL, Aug. 21 (Yonhap) -- North Korean leader Kim Jong-il has passed through a Russian border city on his way to Siberia and the Far East region for summit talks with his Russian counterpart, the North's state-run news agency reported Sunday. Kim was greeted at Khasan Railway Station by the Russian president's envoy to the Far Eastern Region, Viktor Ishayev, and other senior officials on Saturday before continuing on to his destination, the Korean Central News Agency said, without elaborating on his itinerary. The two countries confirmed Saturday that their leaders will hold a summit meeting, though they did not give any further details. An informed source in Moscow said Saturday that the North Korean leader will hold a summit with Russian President Dmitry Medvedev in Ulan-Ude, the third-largest city in eastern Siberia, on Tuesday. A Russian Far Eastern news agency also reported Saturday that Kim was expected to directly head to Ulan-Ude, located near Lake Baikal, to meet with Medvedev without stopping in other Russian cities. Kim's trip to Russia, his first since 2002, comes just months after the reclusive leader held summit talks with the Chinese president in Beijing in his third trip to his country's closest ally in just over a year. "His visit to Russia ... will mark a historic occasion in boosting the (North)-Russia friendship," the KCNA said in a dispatch. The bilateral relations cooled following the collapse of the Soviet Union, the North's former mentor, two decades ago. North Korea has relied heavily on China for trade, aid and diplomatic support in recent years. Russia and China have been involved in talks to end North Korea's nuclear weapons programs. The North quit the disarmament-for-aid talks in 2008, but it has expressed its interest to rejoin the talks that also involve the two Koreas, the United States and Japan. Kim's trip came weeks after North Korea and the United States held rare high-level talks in New York on how to resume the six-nation nuclear talks. Meanwhile, Kim's heir apparent son, Kim Jong-un, did not accompany his father on the ongoing Russian trip as he did during his father's trip to China earlier this year, according to the KCNA dispatch. Kim Jong-un, a four-star general, is being groomed to succeed his father as the country's next leader.