North Korean leader Kim Jong Un waves as he boards his train at a train station in the town of Artyom outside Vladivostok in Primorye Region, Russia, September 17, 2023. Government of Russia’s Primorye Region/Handout via Portal/File Photo Acquires License Rights
SEOUL, Sept 18 (Portal) – North Korean leader Kim Jong Un is traveling home on Monday, most likely with gifts from his Russian hosts including a rifle, a cosmonaut glove and military drones – which in themselves represent a breach of U.N. sanctions.
Below are some of the items he is returning to the “Friendship Museum,” which houses gifts received by the North’s three generations of leaders.
GIFTS FROM RUSSIA
After his summit with Russian President Putin, Kim received a Russian-made rifle “of the highest quality,” according to Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov. Kim retorted with a rifle for Putin, “made by North Korean craftsmen.”
Putin also presented a glove from a spacesuit worn in space, Russian news agency TASS said.
Oleg Kozhemyako, the governor of Primorye Region, presented Kim with a set of modern, lightweight body armor for assault missions that protects his chest, shoulders, neck and groin, Russian media said.
According to TASS, Kim was also presented with five disposable attack drones and a Geranium-25 reconnaissance drone, which is widely used in the war in Ukraine.
That violates at least two U.N. Security Council resolutions against the North that Moscow has imposed for its banned missile and nuclear activities.
Kim 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 the Russian news agency RIA reported, there was a scramble over the right hat size. The Russian ambassador to Pyongyang, Alexander Matsegora, suggested a size slightly smaller than his own “very large head,” which turned out to be just right.
“It is also important that this is a gift from the heart. And Comrade Kim Jong Un liked it,” Matsegora said.
Kim began his visit with a stop in the Russian border town of Khasan, where he was presented with a photo of Yuri Gagarin, the cosmonaut who was the first person to orbit the Earth.
“COMPARABLE TO THE LOUVRE”
North Korea has gone 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 has dedicated a special museum to them.
The International Friendship Exhibition is located in the hills of the Myohyangsan Mountains, 160 km (99 miles) from Pyongyang. It consists of two impressive concrete buildings in a traditional architectural style with blue tiled roofs.
The museum, which opened in 1978, has more than 100 exhibition rooms with more than 115,000 objects from more than 200 countries, according to the North’s state media.
The scale and significance of the collection make it comparable to the Louvre in Paris, North Korea’s state media said.
Who else sent gifts?
The collection includes crystal ware sent by former U.S. President Jimmy Carter, a teacup set belonging to French President Francois Mitterrand, a Michael Jordan-signed basketball gifted by former U.S. Secretary of State Madeleine Albright during her visit in 2000, and a Rifle gifted by the late Cuban leader Fidel Castro.
Propaganda plays a large role in the display of gifts from South Koreans, with former President Kim Dae-jung’s large-screen television, which galvanized Pyongyang’s peace policy, playing a prominent role.
The Dynasty sedan, Hyundai Motor’s flagship model, was gifted to Kim Jong Il by North Korea-born Hyundai Group founder Chung Ju-yung, who spearheaded investments in the North after the 2000 inter-Korean summit.
Reporting by Jack Kim in Seoul and Lidia Kelly in Melbourne. Edited by Gerry Doyle
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