The North Korean ruler is returning to North Korea with a rich gift. Kim’s propaganda museum, with international gifts, can boast new exhibits. Before leaving Vladivostok he visited the aquarium.
North Korean leader Kim Jong-un departed Vladivostok on Monday – likely with gifts from his Russian hosts, including a rifle, a cosmonaut’s glove and military drones – in violation of UN sanctions. Kim’s program in the last few hours in Russia: visiting the university, the aquarium and a factory in Vladivostok.
Portal news agency reports on some of the items Kim is bringing to his “friendship museum” in North Korea, which houses gifts received by the three generations of leaders of his ruling dynasty.
After his summit with Russian President Putin, Kim received a Russian-made rifle “of the highest quality,” according to Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov. Kim responded with a rifle for Putin, “made by North Korean artisans.”
Putin also presented a glove from a spacesuit used in space, Russian news agency Tass said.
Drones and armor for Kim
Oleg Kozhemyako, governor of the Primorye region, presented Kim with a set of modern, lightweight armor for strike operations that protects his chest, shoulders, neck and groin, Russian media said.
According to Tass, Kim also received five expendable attack drones and a Geranium-25 reconnaissance drone, widely used in the war in Ukraine. This violates at least two UN Security Council resolutions against the North that Moscow has imposed for its prohibited missile and nuclear activities.
Kim also received a fur hat from Defense Minister Sergei Shoigu in Vladivostok, where he inspected Russian nuclear bombers, fighter jets equipped with hypersonic missiles and a warship.
As Russian news agency RIA reported, there were concerns about the correct size of Kim’s hat. Russia’s ambassador to Pyongyang, Alexander Matsegora, suggested a size slightly smaller than his “very large head”, which turned out to be ideal. “It is also important that this is a gift from the heart. And comrade Kim Jong Un liked it,” said Matsegora.
Advertising museum with basketball set and tea cup
North Korea went to great lengths to showcase the gifts that Kim, as well as his father Kim Jong-il and grandfather and state founder Kim Il Sung, received from foreign dignitaries and dedicated a special museum to them. The International Friendship Exhibition is located in the hills of the Myohyangsan Mountains, 160 kilometers from Pyongyang. It consists of two impressive concrete buildings in a traditional architectural style with blue roofs.
According to state media, the museum, opened in 1978, has more than 100 exhibition rooms with more than 115,000 objects from more than 200 countries. The scope and importance of the collection make it comparable to the Louvre in Paris – at least that is what the North Korean state media believes.
The collection includes crystal glass sent by former US President Jimmy Carter, a set of teacups belonging to French President François Mitterrand, a basketball signed by Michael Jordan gifted by former US Secretary of State Madeleine Albright during her visit in 2000 and a rifle donated by the late Cuban leader Fidel Castro.
The museum and gifts play an important role in North Korea’s propaganda. The sedan, Hyundai Motor’s flagship model, was also gifted to Kim Jong-il by North Korean-born Hyundai Group founder Chung Ju-yung, who launched investments in the North after the 2000 inter-Korean summit.
The highlight of the multi-day visit was Kim’s meeting with Putin on Wednesday at the Vostochny cosmodrome, about 8,000 kilometers from Moscow. Kim assured Moscow of his country’s full support. Putin has promised closer cooperation with the Stalinist-led and internationally isolated country – including the “possibility” of military cooperation. The US has repeatedly warned against military cooperation between the two sanctioned countries. Such cooperation would be “quite disruptive and potentially violate several UN Security Council resolutions,” said US State Department spokesman Matthew Miller.
(Portal/APA)