N. Korean leader tours Russian power plant ahead of talks with Medvedev

(ATTN: UPDATES with Kim's health and travel route in para 7-10; CORRECTS name of Russian portal to Portamur in 12th para and photo captions)
By Kim Kwang-tae
SEOUL, Aug. 21 (Yonhap) -- North Korean leader Kim Jong-il toured a hydroelectric power plant in eastern Siberia's Amur region on Sunday, the second day of his trip to Russia, diplomatic sources here said.
Kim's trip to the Bureiskaya hydropower plant, the largest in Russia's Far East, fueled speculation that the two countries could discuss enhancing bilateral cooperation in energy.



In recent years, Russia proposed transmitting surplus electricity produced by the power station to the Korean Peninsula. It has also proposed building a pipeline through the divided peninsula to sell Siberian natural gas to South Korea, one of the world's largest natural gas consumers.
The project, if realized, could help ease tensions on the divided peninsula and bring much-needed hard currency to North Korea. North Korea can expect to earn more than US$500 million a year in handling charges over the gas pipeline, according to South Korean analysts.
Tensions still persist on the peninsula over North Korea's two deadly attacks on the South last year that killed 50 people, mostly soldiers. The two Koreas are still technically at war since the 1950-53 Korean War ended in a cease-fire, not a peace treaty.
Kim crossed the border on Saturday for his first trip to Russia since 2002 and made a stop in the Russian border city of Khasan before arriving at a train station in the Amur region Sunday morning.
Earlier in the day, Kim's special train arrived in Khabarovsk, about 900 kilometers north of Khasan, at 4 a.m. without stopping in Vladivostok, according to Russian officials and police.
The North Korean leader traveled about 600 km to Bureya by train before driving additional 80 km to the Bureiskaya hydropower plant.
According to a source quoted by Russian news agency Novosti, Russian presidential envoy in the Far-Eastern Federal District Viktor Ishayev and Amur Region governor Oleg Kozhemyako gave Kim a short tour of the Bureiskaya.
"The armored train of Kim Jong-il includes 17 cars, and one of them is carrying the North Korean leader's Mercedes, which took him to the Bureiskaya hydropower plant," the source said.



After touring the power station, Kim left for Ulan-Ude, the third-largest city in eastern Siberia, for summit talks with Russian President Dmitry Medvedev, according to sources.
Pictures of Kim posted on Portamur (http://portamur.ru), a Russian news website, indicated that the 69-year-old leader, who suffered a stroke in 2008, has gained some weight and appears to be healthy.
In another sign of an improving health, Kim appears to be using his left arm, which was previously known to have been affected by the 2008 stroke.
They also showed that Kim Ok, Kim's consort, is accompanying the leader on the trip. The former secretary known as Kim's fourth wife also traveled with the North's leader during his trip to China in May.
In the photo, the 47-year-old Kim Ok was seen assisting Kim Jong-il in signing a visitors' book at the Bureiskaya hydro-electric power station, indicating the woman's virtual status as first lady.
"Kim Ok has been seen traveling together with Kim Jong-il whenever he goes abroad, displaying her status as first lady," said a North Korea expert. "The woman will likely exert influence over the North's policies in various forms."
North Korea and Russia did not give a time frame for the summit talks, though an informed source in Moscow said Saturday that the summit will be held in Ulan-Ude on Tuesday.
A South Korean official said Kim is presumed to be heading to Ulan-Ude without stopping after a trip to the Amur region and is expected to arrive at the summit venue on Tuesday, some 3,800 km from the Russian border city of Khasan.



Kim's trip comes amid a flurry of regional diplomacy to boost cooperation. South Korean President Lee Myung-bak left for Mongolia Sunday for talks with his Mongolian counterpart in Ulan Bator, which is about 440 kilometers from Russia's Ulan-Ude.
U.S. Vice President Joe Biden also plans to fly to Mongolia on Monday after concluding his trip to China. However, there is no plan for either the South Korean or the U.S. leader to meet with Kim.
Kim's trip to Russia comes just months after the reclusive leader held summit talks with Chinese President Hu Jintao in Beijing in his third trip to his country's closest ally in just over a year.
The trip will boost "the (North)-Russia friendship," the North's Korean Central News Agency (KCNA) said in a dispatch.
The countries' 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 interest in rejoining the talks that also involve the two Koreas, the United States and Japan.
Last month, North Korea and the United States held rare high-level meetings in New York on how to resume the six-nation nuclear talks.
Meanwhile, Kim's heir apparent son, Kim Jong-un, is not accompanying his father on the trip, though top military, economic and other officials, including Vice Premier Kang Sok-ju, were traveling with the North Korean leader, according to the KCNA dispatch.
In May, Kim Jong-un greeted his father in a North Korean border city after his father returned home from a trip to China. The junior Kim, a four-star general, is being groomed to succeed his father as North Korea's next leader.
According to the KCNA report, Kim's entourage also included Kim Yong-chun, minister of the People's Armed Forces, Jang Song-thaek and Kim Yang-gon, both members of the Political Bureau of the Workers' Party of Korea (WPK) Central Committee, Pak Pong-ju, first vice department director of the WPK Central Committee, O Su-yong, chief secretary of the North Hamgyong Provincial Committee of the WPK, and Kim Kye-gwan, first vice-minister of Foreign Affairs.
"His visit to Russia, another event in achieving world peace and security and the human cause of independence, will mark a historic occasion in boosting the DPRK (North Korea)-Russia friendship given steady continuity generation after generation and putting strong impetus to the drive of all the servicepersons and people to build a thriving socialist nation," the KCNA said.