Kim in Russia

North Korean leader Kim Jong-il on Saturday arrived in Russia for his first visit to the country in nearly a decade.

The visit, expected to last about a week, comes as heavy flooding exacerbates food shortages in North Korea.

Kim is expected to meet Russian President Dmitry Medvedev in Siberia on Wednesday. That meeting has been described as "the main event" of the wider visit in a statement released by the Kremlin on Saturday. The statement gave no details of the exact location, with "security concerns" cited as the reason.

Russia's Foreign Ministry said on Friday that Moscow would send 50,000 metric tons of grain to North Korea by the end of September, the first shipment having been sent on Friday.

Dislike of air travel

The North Korean leader arrived by train on Saturday in the Russian town of Khasan, close to the border between the two countries.

Kim, who is known to dislike air travel, was reported to have stayed aboard the train during his meeting with the Primorye region's governor, who acts as an representative for Medvedev in Russia's Far East.

Relations between Moscow and Pyongyang have suffered since the fall of the Soviet Union.

Beijing as chief ally

Kim's last public visit to Russia was in 2002, when he met President Vladimir Putin in the port city of Vladivostok. In contrast, he has visited North Korea's closest ally China three times in just over a year.

In 2001, Kim travelled over 7,000 km (4,500 miles) by train to Moscow by train for talks with Putin, who is now Russia's prime minister.

Western reports suggest Kim was born in the Soviet Union, where his father received training as a Korean communist exile. North Korea says he was born in a secret guerrilla camp at a sacred peak known as Mount Paektu.

Author: Richard Connor (AFP, Reuters)
Editor: Joanna Impey