Kim Jong Il begins tour of Buryatia

ULAN UDE, August 23 (Itar-Tass) - The special train of Kim Jong Il
arrived in Ulan Ude, the capital of the Republic of Buryatia, on Tuesday
morning. The train stopped at Ulan Ude railway terminal. "A welcoming
ceremony for the North Korean leader has been arranged so as to avoid
complicattion in the functioning of the railway terminal," an informed
source told Itar-Tass.
A programme for Kim Jong Il's stay in Buryatia is kept secret.
However, as sources familiar with the preparation of the meeting point
out and, judging from preparatory arrangements in Buryatia on previous
days, Kim's programme may provide for a tour of Ulan Ude-based industrial
enterprises and Lake Baikal.
In particular, Buryatia media report that security measures have been
enhanced in the Baikal settlement of Turka where the first phase of the
infrastructure of the Baikalskaya Gavan (Baikal Harbour) special tourist
zone has been built. Oleg Kostin, General Director of the Special Economic
Zones public joint-stock company, arrived in the tourist zone on Monday
for a working trip.
According to unofficial data, on the first day the Norht Korean leader
will be accompanied in Buryatia by Viktor Ishayev, Russian presidential
plenipotentiary representative in the Far Eastern Federal District.
However, it has become known that Viktor Tolokonsky, presidential
plenipotentiary representative in the Siberian Federal District, also
arrives in Burytia.
Informed sources say Kim Jong Il may visit the restricted-access
garrison Sosnovy Bor (pine forest) near Ulan Ude. The area was once the
site of the "eastern" headquarters of the Supreme Command of the Armed
Forces of the USSR. All the necessary infrastructure to receive very
important persons has been preserved in the garrison.
There is no accreditation of journalists for the coverage of Kim's
tour of Buryatia. An official in the press service of the Buryatia
governent said the press service does not engage in arrangements for the
coverage of the North Korean leader's visit.
Economic and cultural contacts between Buryatia and the DPRK cannot be
described as extensive. Before the beginning of the1990s, about 1,000
North Korean workers had jobs at large-scale construction sites of
Buryati. However, following the break-up of the Soviet Union and the
launch of economic reforms in Russia, the republic's businessmen began to
invite foreign labour force from the People's Republic of China and from
post-Soviet states. In the process, the Buryatia government has been
steadily limiting quotas for guest workers with a view to reducing
unemployment inside the republic. Only small groups of North Koreans now
work in Buryatia. In 1998, on the initiative of Buryatia People's Khural
(parliament), the republic launched a drive to collect food and prime
necessities for the DPRK which had been hit by natural calamities. After
the dispatch of a large-scale batch of humanitarian aid supplies, the
Embassy of the DPRK to Russia expressed gratitude to the authorities and
people of Buryatia for the initiative. Two years ago, an exhibition of
decorative and applied arts of the DPRK craftsmen was held at one of Ulan
Ude museums.