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KIM JONG-IL TO CELEBRATE LIBERATION DAY IN TRAINJoongang Ilbo reported that the DPRK would celebrate the 56th anniversary of Korea's National Liberation Day without their leader for the first time. Russia's ITAR-Tass news agency reported Tuesday that Chairman Kim Jong-il's special train will pass Habarovsk region on August 15, and thus would have its own private celebration on the railway. ("KIM JONG-IL TO CELEBRATE LIBERATION DAY IN TRAIN," Seoul, 08/14/01) |
Wednesday August 8, 2:10 AM
ST PETERSBURG, Russia (Reuters) - North Korean leader Kim Jong-il wrapped up a visit to Russia's imperial capital on Tuesday and headed back to Moscow in the armoured train that has been his home for almost two weeks. The reclusive leader went sightseeing in Russia's second city St Petersburg -- Leningrad during the Communist era -- before climbing into his special 21-carriage train for the first leg of his monumental trek back home to Pyongyang.
In the morning Kim visited Piskaryovskoye cemetery, site of mass graves for victims of the 900-day World War Two siege of Leningrad, and a machinery factory.
His train pulled out of St Petersburg's Moskovsky station at 11:30 a.m. local time (0730 GMT). A spokeswoman for the city mayor said Kim simply thanked officials and said goodbye -- in Russian, according to local news agencies.
The Dear Leader had earlier laid a wreath at Piskaryovskoye's World War Two memorial with a message in Korean reading: "To the heroic defenders of Leningrad -- Kim Jong-il". Russian news agencies reported that Kim, who was accompanied to the cemetery by St Petersburg governor Vladimir Yakovlev and other officials, then stood in front of the eternal flame and bowed his head in silence for a few moments.
On Monday evening Kim attended a performance of Les Sylphides, a ballet about dreams blanking out reality, at the Mariinsky, or Kirov, theatre. He also visited the Baltika brewery and enjoyed a few beers.
Kim, leader since the death of his father Kim Il-sung, has rarely if ever travelled by plane and was due to arrive in Moscow's Leningradsky station at 8 p.m. local time (1600 GMT). His arrival is likely to cause train delays and cancellations similar to those that characterised his original arrival in Moscow last week as security was tightened to meet the demands of his team.
Kim has rarely travelled abroad and is only known to have visited China while in office. On Wednesday, he has a cultural programme scheduled in Moscow before he sets off on his return journey for Pyongyang in the evening. He is due to stop in the Siberian city of Novosibirsk on his way back, which is expected to take about 10 days.
"The Times".Северокорейский Любимый Вождь перегружает российские железные дороги
"Sic Transit Gloria Mundi" (Так проходит мирская слава - лат.), - телеграфировал однажды великий Свансон (Swanson) из штормовой Атлантики. Отчеты о 6000-мильном (1 сухопутная миля = 1,609 км) путешествии по Транссибирской железнодорожной магистрали северокорейского Любимого Вождя, которое нынешним вечером в конце концов приведет его в Москву, еще более загадочны. Министр путей сообщения России официально сообщил только, что поезд г-на Ким Чен Ира (Kim Jong Il) следует "беспрепятственно и по графику".
Несомненно то, что из-за поездки северокорейского лидера на прошлой неделе было нарушено расписание движения поездов, в которых ездят простые смертные. Следовавшие через Сибирь поезда переводились на запасные пути, где и отстаивались на протяжении до 10 часов в ожидании, когда мимо проследует с очень приличествующей высокопоставленному лицу скоростью 40 миль в час построенный в Японии бронированный поезд г-на Кима из 21 вагона, впереди которого идут два локомотива "на случай, если путь заминирован". Что касается расписания его поездки, то она ставит достойный Книги Гиннесса рекорд продолжительности поездки железнодорожным транспортом отправляющегося с визитом за рубеж главы государства. Эта поездка является также одной из наиболее засекреченных с тех времен, когда немцы отправили Ленина в запломбированном вагоне на Финляндский вокзал.
Перед отъездом из Пхеньяна г-н Ким заявил корреспонденту ИТАР-ТАСС - в интервью, которое само по себе является такой редкостью, что в Северной Корее его назвали "историческим событием и даже вехой", - что для него "высшим удовольствием" является "находиться среди народа и солдат", чтобы узнать о том, как они живут, и "разделить с ними их чувства".
От Новосибирска до Улан-Удэ и далее от Екатеринбурга до Омска Товарищ упрямо отказывал себе в этом удовольствии. Неважно, кого выстраивали для показа ему хозяева - вдову солдата, якобы спасшего жизнь его отцу, Ким Ир Сену (Kim Il Sung), активистов обществ российско-северокорейской дружбы, небольшой ансамбль гитаристов из заключенных, работающих на Омском беконном комбинате, который выпускает 20 т продукции из свинины в сутки, - малорослый лидер либо прятался в своем вагоне, либо внезапно появлялся из него в плотном окружении вооруженной охраны. Во время его редких "прогулок по окрестностям" пассажиров сгоняли со станционных платформ и выгоняли из магазинов и кафе, которые внезапно закрывались "на санитарный час". Владимир Путин после своей встречи с северокорейским диктатором в Пхеньяне в прошлом году объявил, что г-н Ким является обыкновенным и даже приятным парнем, которому не чужды ни стакан, ни шутка. Не станем далее распространяться о надеждах Кремля на то, что эта длинная поездка в поезде позволит г-ну Киму произвести такое же впечатление на народ России.
Но кто может его в чем-то обвинять? Не один демократ, должно быть, тайно завидует его защитному панцирю. За то время, что потребовалось Любимому Вождю, чтобы добраться до Москвы, Колин Пауэлл (Colin Powell) успел промчаться по Южной Корее. Китаю, Вьетнаму, Японии и Австралии - притом, что любые мелкие подробности о меню государственного секретаря США во время его поездки и выбранных им для просмотра видеофильмах, естественно, нашли отражение в отчетах средств массовой информации (СМИ). Диктаторы, как и очень богатые люди, не похожи на нас с вами. Некоторые из них даже и не пытаются делать вид, что они такие же, как мы.
Перевод: Виктор Федотов, Страна.Ru Опубликовано на сайте inosmi.ru: 03 августа 2001, Оригинал публикации: Iron silk route ("The Times")
Pyongyang, August 7 (KCNA) -- News of leader Kim Jong Il's external activities has thrown all the Korean people into an ecstasy of immense joy. They are focusing their attention on his every dynamic activity, singleheartedly loyal to him. They deeply respect and venerate Kim Jong Il as their leader. This absolute worship of him is growing more ardent with his foreign tour as a momentum.
Every Korean, young and old, man and woman, is pointing to every place of vast Russia on the world map visited by him, his heart going out to him. Let us get ready to make a report of loyalty to him on the day he is coming back from his foreign tour. Let us devote our wisdom and enthusiasm to our work to please him with miracles and innovations. This call can be heard from the simple Koreans in every nook and corner of the country. The people throughout the country are marking every day with high political zeal and shining labor achievements and performing feats in every field of the national economy.
Signal successes are reported from such important fields of socialist economic construction as power, coal and metal industries and railway transport and similar upswing is also reported from other domains. The country's economic conditions still remain difficult due to the natural disasters that lasted for several consecutive years and the moves of imperialists to isolate and stifle the DPRK. To add to its difficulties, torrential rain that followed the severest drought in 1000 years left various areas on the east and west coasts inundated and tens of thousands of hectares of farmland, houses for thousands of families and public buildings submerged or destroyed. But the people have risen up in a persevering spirit to overcome those difficulties. They are eagerly waiting for Kim Jong Il to return in good health from his fruitful foreign tour.
North Korean leader Kim Jong Il ended his visit to Russia on Monday. On Tuesday he begins his journey home, once again by train. The main distinction of his journey was that the whole world finally got a glimpse of a man who normally lives as a recluse in his Communist state. The trip to Russia was only the third international journey of Kim Jong Il, who rules like a king over his Communist preserve where his people live in isolation and poverty. Such a situation hardly exists any more elsewhere in the world. For the world's media it was an excuse to make their way to Russia, finally to have the chance to find out more about the leader of the North Korean people.
Aversion to Rain
Now we know one thing about him: he doesn't like the rain. In Novosibirsk, he was due to meet the widow of a man who had save the life of his father in 1946. Kim left the woman standing on the platform, because it was raining. But she did receive a case full of presents. On Monday in St. Petersburg, a visit to a cemetery for victims of the Second World War was cancelled. Again, it was because of the rain.
These are amusing bits of information, but still of more substance than the political accords reached between the two leaders. All the same, those can't be ignored. The most important political element of Kim's state visit was his talks with Russian President Vladimir Putin about his missile program. Kim declared in Moscow that he's in favour of peaceful relations between the countries. His missile program carries no threat to anyone who respects his country as a sovereign state, says Kim. In the Kremlin, the North Koreans announced that they would forgo any further missile tests until 2003. The question is whether he can be believed. When Putin was in the North Korean capital Pyongyang last year, Kim made specific pledges, only to withdraw them later.
"Satisfied"
Putin declared after the talks that he was very satisfied. The Russian leader expressed understanding for Kim's revulsion to the 37,000 American military personnel who have remained in South Korea since the Korean War in the early 1950's. Both leaders highlighted America's involvement in this area through the signing of a joint declaration in which they expressed their opposition to the missile defence system that America wants to launch in the region.
Whether this agreement, and Kim's promises, have made any impression on US President George W Bush remains the question. The day after the joint declaration, Bush said that he was determined to develop such a shield. So the unrest in the region continues.
Putin´s Plan
But Putin is drawing up his own peace plan. In Moscow, he expressed himself ready to help in the restoration of relations between the two Koreas. A further normalisation of the relationship on the Korean peninsula is of direct importance to the Russians, who can expect more in an economic sense from the South than from the North. The Russians want to extend the Trans-Siberian railway line into South Korea, via North Korea. South Korean industrial products can then be exported to the West via Russia, an arrangement out of which Russia could do well. This project has more chance of coming to fruition if bilateral Korean relations develop favourably. But for the time being, Kim's train journey has delivered more inconveniences than profit. Thousands of Russian commuters suffered delays because of Kim's armoured train, which made a mess of train timetables all over Russia.
Moscow August 5 (KCNA) -- The presidential orchestra of the Kremlin gave a performance in the Vladimir Hall of the Grand Kremlin Palace this evening in honour of leader Kim Jong Il. When he appeared in the auditorium, the audience warmly welcomed him with enthusiastic applause. The performance was highly acclaimed by the audience for the high artistic talents of the artistes. Kim Jong Il congratulated the artistes on their successful performance and sent a floral basket to them.
Monday August 6, 11:15 PM
SAINT PETERSBURG, Aug 6 (AFP) - In a visit steeped in communist nostalgia, North Korea's reclusive leader Kim Jong-Il on Monday toured Russia's second city, site of the 1917 Bolshevik revolution. After arriving by train from Moscow, Kim stopped off at the city's Austrian-run five-star Nevsky Palace Hotel, where he is staying for two days, before travelling to city hall which houses a Lenin museum. A communist landmark, the museum houses the office from where Lenin presided over the October revolution in a former aristocratic girls' school taken over by the Bolshevik Central Committee and the Petrograd Soviet. The North Korean leader himself did not tour the museum, which he visited during a previous stay in the city in 1959 with his father Kim-Il Sung, North Korea's founder. But members of his entourage took in the sights, officials told AFP.
Kim told Saint Petersburg governor Vladimir Yakovlev that he had warm memories of his previous visit, when the city was called Leningrad. Kim, who is wrapping up his first official visit abroad after China, still considers the city to be Leningrad despite the 1991 decision to return to the pre-revolutionary name of Saint Petersburg, a source close to President Vladimir Putin's regional envoy, Viktor Cherkesov, told Interfax. The Stalinist dictator's visit is "more personal than business," the source was quoted as saying.
The secretive communist leader arrived in Moscow late Friday after a marathon 9,000-kilometre (5,600-mile) trans-Siberian train journey and held a summit Saturday with Putin. Rain forced the North Korean leader to cancel a wreath-laying ceremony to honor the victims of the World War II siege of Leningrad, ITAR-TASS reported. But he rescheduled the visit for Tuesday. The North Korean leader later dropped by the State Hermitage Museum, home to one of the world's largest collections of western European art, spending most of his time in the Renaissance section where he admired paintings by Titian, Botticelli, Leonardo da Vinci and Michelangelo.
Museum director Mikhail Piotrovsky, who accompanied Kim, told ITAR-TASS that his guest had struck him as a "very curious person." Kim, shown on Russian television walking in the gilded splendour of the Hermitage dressed in his trademark olive-green suit, kept the media at a distance. As has been the case throughout the visit, western journalists were not allowed to cover Kim's visit directly, and apart from a few orchestrated television shots, the Russian media was not given access to North Korea's "Dear Leader."
Tight security measures were in force for his arrival early Monday onboard an overnight train at the city's Moskovsky railway station, where he was met by Yakovlev and Putin's envoy. With police cordoning off the station and all other trains cancelled for two and a half hours, some passengers affected by the disruption grumbled at the delays although others were more resigned. Anna Grigoriyeva, 50, said: "Kim is like Stalin. I can understand why they're making such a fuss about his visit."
The North Korean leader later toured the giant LMZ plant, which produces turbines for nuclear power stations -- including a controversial nuclear reactor in Iran that is bitterly opposed by the United States. Russia is hoping to restore cooperation with North Korea in the area of nuclear energy, which was broken off after the collapse of the Soviet Union. Kim's programme also included a tour of the Peter and Paul Fortress, where most of Russia's tsars are buried, and an evening ballet performance of Sylphide at the Marinsky Theatre.
On Tuesday, he again takes in another communist revolutionary high point when he boards the Cruiser Aurora moored on the Neva river. On the night of October 25, 1917, the crew of the Aurora fired blank rounds which demoralised the Winter Palace's defenders and marked the start of the October revolution. According to the latest programme, the North Korean leader's train is due to arrive on the outskirts of Moscow early on Wednesday, where it will be transferred onto another line so he can set out immediately on a 10-day return rail journey to Pyongyang.
By Anna Dolgov
Associated Press Writer
Monday, August 6, 2001; 6:23 PM
ST. PETERSBURG, Russia –– The security surrounding Kim Jong Il got even tighter Monday as his entourage encountered a museum piece officials feared might offend the North Korean leader: a mechanical peacock that turns its back and fans its tail.
Kim's delegation solemnly toured the Hermitage, with brief stops at the museum's rich collections of Spanish, Dutch and Italian paintings. Then Kim was led to an 18th-century clock adorned with a life-size peacock. When the clock strikes, the peacock fans its tail and turns its back. But before it went into action, Kim's aides ordered out all journalists except North Koreans, saying they didn't want their leader's "personal emotions to be videotaped," according to a museum security official. "I guess it's unfitting for the Great Leader to look at a bird's behind," said the security official, Vladimir Gizatullin, using one of the titles by which Kim is known at home.
Kim came to St. Petersburg on Monday after three days in Moscow and nine days traveling through Russia's eastern expanse by train. His Moscow visit centered on talks with President Vladimir Putin in which the two issued pledged to renew strategic ties and denounced U.S. plans for a missile defense shield. The tour is Kim's first to Russia as president of the isolated communist state, and he has been accorded the highest security given to any foreign leader since the 1991 collapse of the Soviet Union.
In the fog and drizzle enveloping St. Petersburg on Monday, police lined up around the Hermitage and took position along other stops on Kim's itinerary. "Around Russia, these guys line up wherever he travels, trains get delayed – this is delirium," said a 51-year-old cab driver who only gave his first name, Mikhail. "They (Russian officials) have found themselves some friend," he added resentfully.
As Kim's train trundled toward St. Petersburg on Monday morning, thousands of commuters were forced to wait next to soaked railway platforms when security officials closed all stations. Most of St. Petersburg seemed to meet Kim with detachment. As his motorcade whizzed through Palace Square in front of the Hermitage, the few passers-by were riveted by a different kind of autocrat – a gray tomcat crawling along the cobblestones toward a flock of pigeons.
After being closely guarded through much of his trip, Kim ventured into open vistas Monday, stepping out onto a Hermitage balcony to survey Russia's former imperial capital. The brief outing took place precisely at noon, when a cannon traditionally fires from the Peter and Paul Fortress across the Neva River from the Hermitage. Kim also visited a czarist throne room, stopping to take in its imposing podium covered with purple velvet. "He was impressed with the flaming velvet of the throne room, with the white marble columns, the high podium," said Hermitage spokeswoman Larisa Aerova.
Later, Kim visited a metalworks plant that produces turbines for nuclear power plants, taking a closer look at a fragment of a turbine that Russia built for a nuclear power plant it is helping to build in Iran. Kim signed the plant's guest book, which his father, the late President Kim Il Sung, also signed some 40 years ago. Kim, now 59, accompanied his father on that trip, Russian reports said.
On Monday, he also visited the Baltika brewery, one of Russia's largest, spending an hour and a half there instead of the planned 20 minutes, the Interfax news agency reported.
Kim has already traveled about 5,500 miles across Russia by train and will take the same route back to North Korea. Kim reportedly has an intense dislike of flying. Russian television stations, including state-run RTR, reported that a rock was thrown at Kim's train outside Moscow, breaking a window. But railroad spokesman Vladimir Zemensky was quoted by the news agency ITAR-Tass as calling the reports "a journalist canard." © 2001 The Associated Press
The Associated Press
Monday, August 6, 2001; 7:46 AM
ST. PETERSBURG, Russia –– North Korean leader Kim Jong Il rode into Russia's former imperial capital Monday aboard his private 21-car train, forcing thousands of Russian commuters to stand by in a steady drizzle as security officials closed the rail stations he passed through. Russian officials have provided Kim with the highest security for any foreign leader who has visited the country since the Soviet collapse in 1991.
The secretive North Korean leader visited the Hermitage Museum and was expected to stop at a factory that produces turbines for nuclear power plants. Rainy weather prompted the cancellation of his trip to a huge war cemetery where many victims of the Nazi siege of Leningrad are buried. Kim, 59, first visited St. Petersburg in 1959 on a trip with his father, the late Kim Il Sung, Russian media reported.
Kim has logged about 5,500 miles during his trek through Russia, which began July 26 when he set out for Moscow from the Pacific region, riding west along the Trans-Siberian railway. He will take the same route back to North Korea. Kim reportedly has an intense dislike of flying. The political high point of the trip came Saturday when Kim met Russian President Vladimir Putin. The two leaders signed a joint declaration pledging to renew strategic ties and denouncing U.S. plans for a missile defense shield. North Korea, an impoverished and politically isolated communist nation, has suffered severe food shortages and has become heavily dependent on foreign aid in recent years. © 2001 The Associated Press
Monday August 6, 9:05 PM
MOSCOW, Aug 6 (AFP) - North Korean leader Kim Jong-Il offered a sumptuous meal of lobster and "celestial cow" to his Russian hosts during his marathon trans-Siberian train journey, one of the passengers told RIA-Novosti Monday. As at the best tables, the lobsters were presented at the table alive before being boiled, a Russian official in the delegation accompanying Kim told the news agency on condition of anonymity.
But the highlight were kebabs from "celestial cow," one of the favourite dishes of the reclusive North Korean dictator, which his Russian dinner guests tasted for the first time and found better than the usual pork or chicken. At the end of the meal, the Russian delegation was astonished to learn that "celestial cow" was none other than donkey meat.
Since he crossed into Russia on his armoured train on July 26, Kim has been accompanied on President Vladimir Putin's orders by the presidential envoy to the Far East, Vladimir Pulikovsky and other officials. The 21-carriage Japanese-made train is preceded by two locomotives which sweep the track for mines. According to the Russian source, Kim's train is bristling with electronic equipment and equipped with the latest technology, including a satellite navigations system and an Internet connection, RIA Novosti said.
In his personal carriage, Kim has an electronic screen charting the progress of his train, according to the same source. The first carriage, located after the locomotive, is reserved for the Russian delegation. The second contains a power generator which supplies electricity to the entire train. At the centre of the convoy is a storage facility which looks no different from the other carriages, the official said, without saying what it contained. Finally, the scores of attendants, (doctors, cooks, servants and guards) have their living quarters in the last two carriages.
North Korean journalists, equipped with antiquated cameras, the only media allowed to get near to Kim, are also on the same train. The secretive communist leader arrived in Moscow late Friday after a marathon 9,000-kilometre (5,600 mile) trans-Siberian train journey and held a summit Saturday with Putin. Currently in Saint Petersburg, Kim is to start his return journey from Moscow to Pyongyang Wednesday.
Sunday August 5 3:17 PM ET
By Daniel Mclaughlin
MOSCOW (Reuters) - North Korean leader Kim Jong-il toured Russia's top space facilities on Sunday during a ground-breaking visit aimed at easing U.S. fears that Pyongyang's missile plans threaten world stability. Russian officials insisted Kim's tours of the Khrunichev space center and Mission Control outside Moscow were for pleasure not business.
He later boarded his armored train for a similar sightseeing trip to St. Petersburg. A Reuters photographer at Moscow's Leningradsky station said five bus-loads of crack OMON police ringed the station before Kim left for a day-trip to Russia's second city. He is due to tour factories and cultural sites before returning to Moscow.
ORT television showed the diminutive Kim nodding and smiling as he and his entourage strolled through the space facilities alongside the heavy security which has shadowed him since his train crossed into Russia a week and a half ago.
Deputy Prime Minister Ilya Klebanov showed Kim around the Mission Control center for the International Space Station (news - web sites) (ISS), from which scientists also tracked the 15-year orbit of the Mir space station (news - web sites) until it was ditched this spring. Kim also saw a short film ``A Day in the Life of a Cosmonaut'' after earlier touring the Khrunichev center, which produces rockets for launching satellites.
``PEACEFUL'' MISSILE PLANS
ORT showed Kim, in his trademark olive tunic, climbing into a life-size copy of Mir, which shattered all records for time spent in space until its demise in March. Kim grinned when presented with a model of the Proton rocket, Russia's main hope for competitive commercial satellite launches. He also saw the reusable Baikal rocket stage now under development and the lighter Rokot launcher, which is basically a converted ballistic missile. The tours clearly sought to show that communist North Korea's interest in missile technology was for peaceful aims. Russian media said he was conducting no talks on space issues.
Kim, making his first known foreign trip other than to China, met President Vladimir Putin on Saturday after a nine-day train journey across Russia's expanses. The two men described their talks as ``a historic landmark'' in boosting world peace and denied U.S. allegations that North Korea posed a security threat, the main reasoning behind Washington's planned missile defense shield. Kim dismissed Washington's notion of North Korea being one of several ``rogue states'' not to be trusted and said Pyongyang's missile program was for peaceful purposes. Russian officials said he promised to keep to a moratorium on launches until 2003. Pyongyang first fired its Taepodong missile in 1998.
SOUTH KOREA WELCOMES TALKS
South Korea welcomed the outcome of the Kremlin talks. ``We think the two countries' summit talk will have a positive effect (in overcoming the impasse in relations between the two Koreas),'' a Foreign Ministry spokesman said in Seoul. Close Soviet-era ties between North Korea and Moscow cooled after the 1991 collapse of communism as Moscow nurtured trade links with South Korea. But under Putin, Moscow has refocused attention on former allies, including Iran, Iraq and Libya.
Outside North Korea's concrete embassy in a Moscow suburb, a handful of protesters carrying placards denouncing Kim were led away by police for staging a demonstration without permission. ``Democracy for North Korea,'' read a slogan scrawled on a gag fitted into one protester's mouth. ``Save 22 million North Koreans,'' read another poster, alluding to reports of mass starvation and political clampdowns in the country.
By Paul Shin
Associated Press Writer
Sunday, August 5, 2001; 6:54 PM
MOSCOW –– Wrapping up official talks with Russian leaders, North Korea's Kim Jong Il headed north Sunday night to St. Petersburg on the 11th day of his train travels through Russia. The reclusive North Korean leader closed the official portion of his trip having accomplished the main goal of his high-profile talks with Russian President Vladimir Putin: the signing of a joint manifesto reaffirming the ties the countries had during the Cold War, when they were ideologically allied. Today, only North Korea remains communist.
Analysts said the manifesto full of Soviet-style language, and Putin's warm welcome for Kim, were designed to send a message to – and indirectly criticize – the United States. "This is going back to the Soviet days, when Khrushchev and Brezhnev helped Egypt or other countries which were disliked by all other countries," said Hiroshi Kimura, a Russia specialist at the International Research Center for Japanese Studies in Japan. "Putin doesn't have any ally countries – only so-called rogue countries such as Iran, Iraq, North Korea, Cuba." Washington has said it wants to build a national missile defense system because of fears of nuclear proliferation in North Korea and other countries. Russia opposes the plan.
Some observers said Kim came with more concrete goals. "Weapons procurement was an important part of Mr. Kim's trip, and I think significant progress has been made on that matter," said Pavel Felgenhauer, an independent Russian military analyst. However, there was no official announcement that arms sales was on the agenda.
South Korea reacted positively to the talks on the belief that Putin nudged Kim to revive stalled talks with Seoul. Inter-Korean exchanges that thrived after the first-ever summit last year in the North Korean capital, Pyongyang, have come to a virtual standstill because of tensions between North Korea and the United States. "If Chinese President Jiang Zemin also urges a resumption of inter-Korean talks when he visits North Korea in September, it will have positive effects," South Korea's Vice Foreign Minister Yim Sung-jun said.
The trip to Russia is only the third time Kim has been abroad as leader of the impoverished and isolated country. Concerns over a possible coup during any trip abroad are often cited as a key reason behind Kim's reluctance to travel. Since crossing the border at the Russian town of Khasan on July 26, Kim has been one of the main news stories in Russia. But there was no official announcement of his journey in North Korea until Kim met Putin on Saturday.
On Sunday, Kim visited the Khrunichev State Space Center outside Moscow, boarding a full-size replica of the Mir orbital space station, the Interfax news agency said. He also visited the Mission Control Center in Korolyov, also near Moscow. That same day, seven protesters were detained after holding an unsanctioned demonstration outside the North Korean Embassy, Echo of Moscow radio reported. They were protesting Russia's friendship with the Stalinist government and potential arms deals.
But most Russians were more bothered by the inconvenience caused by the tight security surrounding Kim. A major train station in Moscow was closed to commuters for hours before his arrival Friday evening, a peak travel time for Muscovites heading to countryside cottages for weekend holidays. Shortly before Kim's departure Sunday, a bomb threat was phoned into the station, Russian news agencies reported. The day of Kim's arrival, authorities also received a bomb threat. Both calls were declared pranks. Kim, who is rumored to fear flying, was to arrive by rail in St. Petersburg on Monday, and return to Moscow on Tuesday before heading home on his 21-car train. © 2001 The Associated Press
By Peter Baker,
Washington Post Foreign Service Sunday, August 5, 2001
MOSCOW, Aug. 4 -- North Korean leader Kim Jong Il declared today that his missile development program posed no threat to international peace and renewed his pledge to freeze testing until 2003, a fresh gesture aimed at undermining the rationale for President Bush's proposed nuclear shield.
Making a historic visit to the former capital of the communist world, the reclusive Kim signed a joint statement with Russian President Vladimir Putin terming his missile program "peaceful in nature" and opposing U.S. plans for an antimissile system to defend against countries such as the Stalinist North Korea.
Kim first committed to a two-year extension of the 1999 moratorium on ballistic missile launches during discussions with European officials in May. But his foreign minister later told a visiting New York scholar that Pyongyang would not stick to the pledge unless the Bush administration signaled interest in improving relations. Bush recently invited North Korea to resume talks, and today's statement appeared to be a response.
"The North Korean leader has confirmed that North Korea intends to adhere to the moratorium on the launching of ballistic missiles that it had declared until the year 2003," Kremlin deputy chief of staff Sergei Prikhodko told reporters after the meeting between Kim and
Putin. Prikhodko reported no conditions on the moratorium. North Korea reportedly also revived a previous proposal to scrap its missile program altogether if other countries help it launch satellites. Moscow officials told the Interfax news agency that they would be happy to provide such assistance as long as Russia was paid for its services -- either by North Korea or by a third party such as the United States.
Kim's visit to Moscow -- his first official foreign trip anywhere but to China -- comes as Putin is looking for bargaining chips in his forthcoming negotiations with Bush over the future of the Anti-Ballistic Missile Treaty of 1972. By securing goodwill statements from Kim, analysts said, Putin hopes to undercut the central premise of Bush's missile defense plan -- the notion that maverick governments present a serious danger, as demonstrated by North Korea's test launch of a missile over Japan in 1998.
However, Alexander Pikayev of the Carnegie Moscow Center, a research organization, pointed out that Kim did not renounce continued development of ballistic missiles, only testing. Igor Bunin, director of the Center for Political Technologies, a Moscow research group, said that Putin and Kim were using each other in their distinctive debates with Washington, holding up the prospect of closer Russia-North Korea relations as a scare tactic. "Both sides are engaged in typical blackmail with regard to third countries, primarily the United States," he said.
Whatever the result, Kim's trip here will go down in the annals as one of the stranger state visits in recent times. Afraid to fly, the man known to his people as the "Dear Leader" traveled to Moscow in a 21-car armored train with darkened windows and gun-toting guards. It chugged its way across the Russian heartland for 10 days before arriving Friday night. His presence in Moscow has irritated many of the city's residents. Trains were shut down for hours, roads were blocked to traffic and even Red Square was closed to visitors to accommodate the quirky leader's security fetish. His motorcade appeared to be larger than Putin's. The restrictions imposed on his behalf even drew a rebuke from former Soviet leader Mikhail Gorbachev, who complained that they were excessively Stalinist.
Like Communist leaders of old, Kim laid flowers at the Lenin Mausoleum today and then went inside to inspect the embalmed father of the Soviet state. "You can probably safely say that you now know Russia as well, and maybe even better, than some Russian politicians," Putin joked to Kim in front of Russian television cameras. "I think I came to know Russian nature and the Russian soul better," Kim replied.
Russian officials contend that the hassle of Kim's visit was by far outweighed by the possibility of drawing one of the world's most isolated leaders out of his shell. "The cost is minimal," said Sergei Karaganov, a foreign policy analyst with close ties to the government. "But the benefit long-term could be substantial."
© 2001 The Washington Post Company
По окончании переговоров Владимир Путин и Ким Чен Ир во Владимирском зале Большого Кремлевского дворца подписали Московскую декларацию. В ней говорится, что ракетная программа Северной Кореи носит мирный характер и не представляет угрозы. "Принимая во внимание, что Договор по ПРО является краеугольным камнем стратегической стабильности и основой дальнейших сокращений стратегических наступательных вооружений руководители двух стран выразили решимость и в наступившем веке всемерно содействовать укреплению международной безопасности", указывается в документе. "Российская сторона приветствовала эту позицию КНДР", подчеркивается в Московской декларации.
By Paul Shin
Associated Press Writer
Sunday, August 5, 2001; 1:07 PM
MOSCOW –– Last year, the leaders of the two Koreas shared an ambitious vision of an "iron silk road" connecting the divided Korean peninsula with Europe by rail for the first time in 50 years. Work began to reconnect a severed portion of a rail line that once stretched the full length of Korea – but was suspended this year as tensions escalated between the communist North and the United States.
Now the project has gotten a boost from Russia, with President Vladimir Putin urging North Korean leader Kim Jong Il during weekend talks in Moscow to resume the project. In a joint statement, Kim and Putin said their countries will cooperate closely to create "a railroad transport corridor" linking the Koreas with Russia and Europe. Work on the project "is entering a stage of active development," it said.
An "iron silk road" would have a huge economic impact, cutting by half the cost of exporting goods to Europe, now sent mostly by ship, South Korean experts estimate. About $32 billion, or 14 percent of South Korea's total exports of $172 billion in 2000, went to Europe and Russia – only 5 percent by Trans-Siberian Railway after being transported by ship to Vladivostok and Russia's other Far Eastern ports.
The sea route from South Korea's main port, Busan, to Hamburg, Germany, is 12,000 miles. But by rail, it is 5,750 miles from Vladivostok to Moscow and 2,720 miles from Moscow to Paris. "Russia offers its Trans-Siberian Railway as a cheaper alternative to the major sea routes dominated by Western countries," said Ahn Byung-min, an analyst at Seoul's state-funded Research Institute for Transport Development.
Russia, too, has reason to back the project. Moscow can expect to earn an annual profit of $2 billion if its Trans-Siberian Railway is linked to a trans-Korean system, the Russian newspaper Izvestia said last week. The number of containers carrying goods between Asia and Europe would gradually increase to 1 million a year once the two railway systems are linked, Izvestia said, quoting Russian railways minister Nikolai Aksyonenko.
However, North Korea's outdated railway system, mostly built by Japan before 1945 or in the 1950s with Soviet assistance, must first be modernized, the newspaper said. According to a South Korean study, North Korea depends on rail to carry 90 percent of its transportation. But 80 percent of its rail lines use electricity – a serious problem since the country is in dire shortage of power. © 2001 The Associated Press
By Paul Shin
Associated Press Writer
Sunday, August 5, 2001; 8:49 AM
MOSCOW –– North Korean leader Kim Jong Il toured Russia's space science facilities Sunday, a day after holding summit talks with Russian President Vladimir Putin that showcased renewed strategic ties. Amid tight security, Kim visited the Khrunicheve State Space Center outside Moscow where he was shown a full-size replica of the Mir orbital space station, the Interfax news agency said.
He inspected workshops that make space rocket carriers and produce Proton rocket boosters, and another that makes an upgraded version of the RS-18 ballistic missile, Interfax said. Later, the North Korean leader was to visit the Mission Control Center in Korolyov, also near Moscow, which controlled the flight of the Soviet-made Mir station for 15 years.
Kim was accompanied on the tour by Russian Deputy Prime Minister Ilya Klebanov and Yuri Koptev, general director of the Russian space and aviation agency Rosaviakosmos, the ITAR-Tass news agency reported. The visits came on the third day of Kim's stay in Moscow after a nine-day train trip across Russia. The visit was Kim's first to Russia and his third abroad since he took power after his father and the country's president, Kim Il Sung, died in 1994. He has visited China twice.
During the first Kim-Putin meeting, last year in Pyongyang, the North Korean capital, Kim reportedly expressed a willingness to abandon his country's missile program if other countries help it launch satellites. In Saturday's meeting with Putin, however, Kim said his country will continue to develop its missile program, claiming that it is peaceful and poses no threat to any country that respects Pyongyang's sovereignty.
Kim's latest position was seen as a rebuff of an offer of dialogue by President Bush in June, with the North's missile issue on top of the agenda. North Korea's missile program was developed with Soviet technology. Its customers included Iraq, Iran and Syria. Pyongyang has said it would halt missile exports if it is compensated. Washington has rejected the North's proposal. The CIA believes that North Korea has the capability to build a missile that could reach the western edges of the United States, including Hawaii and Alaska.
Saturday's summit talks between Kim and Putin were reminiscent of a Cold War scene. The two leaders warmly embraced, pledged to renew strategic ties and denounced the United States for its missile defense program. A manifesto issued at the end of the meeting, which Kim called a "great success," was full of Soviet-style language and indirect criticism of the United States. The two leaders issued a similar statement after meeting last year.
Washington says it needs a missile shield to guard against threats from "rogue" countries such as North Korea and Iraq. Russia, along with China and North Korea, strongly oppose the U.S. missile defense plan. Kim was scheduled to leave for St. Petersburg later in the day for a two-day stay there. He will return to Moscow on Tuesday and leave for home by train the following day. © 2001 The Associated Press
Ким Чен Ир встретился с Лениным и Путиным
Текст: Светлана Нестерова Фото: Reuters Программа первого дня пребывания главы КНДР в Москве оказалась очень насыщенной. Первым делом Ким Чен Ир возложил венки к могиле Неизвестного солдата. Во время церемонии в Александровском саду не обошлось без неожиданностей. Чрезвычайные меры безопасности не помешали одной бездомной собаке забежать на дальнюю аллею парка. Милиционерам пришлось отгонять собаку, чтобы она, не дай бог, не укусила северокорейского лидера. |
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После могилы Неизвестного солдата, следуя добрым советским традициям, Ким Чен Ир посетил Мавзолей, возложив на гроб вождя мирового пролетариата венок с надписью: «Ким Чен Ир – В.И. Ленину». Правда, внутри помещения глава КНДР пробыл недолго – всего пять минут. По всей видимости, вид мумии Ленина так впечатлил его, что на выходе Ким Чен Ир сделал совершенно несвойственную ему вещь: панически избегающий здороваться с кем-либо за руку, он пожал руку начальнику почетного караула. К могиле Сталина и других советских руководителей подходить не стал.
Посещение корейским лидером Мавзолея и могилы Неизвестного солдата сопровождалось беспрецедентными мерами безопасности. Жизнь возле Кремля фактически остановилась. Полностью были перекрыты Манежная и Красная площади, не работал торговый комплекс «Охотный ряд», были приостановлены ремонтные работы возле Исторического музея. Когда Ким Чен Ир был на Красной площади, на каждой башне Кремля возле Мавзолея даже были выставлены по два автоматчика, которые зорко следили за действиями журналистов.
После того как все формальности с Лениным были закончены, Ким Чен Ир отправился к Владимиру Путину в Кремль. Президент встретил лидера КНДР в Зеленой гостиной. Во время приветствия Путин сделал Ким Чен Иру небольшой комплимент, заявив, что «товарищ председатель» после своего долгого путешествия «знает Россию не хуже, а даже лучше, чем некоторые российские политики». Переговоры Путина и Ким Чен Ира длились более двух часов. Закончились они подписанием Московской декларации. Россия согласилась «играть конструктивную и ответственную роль в позитивных процессах на Корейском полуострове» и поддерживать «продолжение диалога между Севером и Югом, однако без вмешательств извне». В декларации отмечается, что «вывод американских войск из Южной Кореи является не терпящей отлагательства насущной проблемой в интересах обеспечения мира и безопасности на Корейском полуострове и в Северо-Восточной Азии».
Москве в свою очередь удалось добыть из Ким Чен Ира дополнительный аргумент, который пригодится в диалоге с США по ПРО. Корейский руководитель заверил Путина, что «КНДР будут строго соблюдать объявленный до 2003 года мораторий на запуск баллистических ракет» (это не так сложно сделать, потому что возможности для пуска у корейцев весьма и весьма ограничены). Корейская сторона также заверила, что ее ракетная программа, которой так опасаются США, носит мирный характер и не представляет угрозы для любой страны, с уважением относящейся к суверенитету КНДР.
Стороны остались довольны друг другом. В знак особого расположения Владимир Путин получил еще одно приглашение посетить Северную Корею «в удобное для него время». Как сообщает кремлевская пресс-служба, это «приглашение было с благодарностью принято». Так что, по всей видимости, Путин и Ким Чен Ир будут ездить друг к другу по меньшей мере в раз в год.
Что касается дальнейшей программы визита Ким Чен Ира, то в воскресенье он посетит научно-производственный центр имени Хруничева и Центр управления полетами в подмосковном городе Королев. Вечером в его честь будет дан концерт российских мастеров искусства. Ближе к ночи поезд Ким Чен Ира отправится в Санкт-Петербург, где северокорейский лидер пробудет два дня. В столицу товарищ Ким вернется 7 августа, после чего отправится обратно в Пхеньян.
By Paul Shin
Associated Press Writer
Saturday, August 4, 2001; 2:33 PM
MOSCOW –– In an eerie echo of the Cold War, North Korean leader Kim Jong Il and Russian President Vladimir Putin embraced in the Kremlin on Saturday, pledged to renew strategic ties and denounced the United States for its missile defense program. At the end of summit talks, the two leaders signed a manifesto calling for close consultations on global issues and bilateral economic cooperation. Saturday's so-called Moscow Declaration, which Kim called a "great success," was full of Soviet-style language and indirect criticism of the United States – but it contained no surprises. The two leaders issued a similar statement when they met in Pyongyang, the North Korean capital, in July 2000. Before their meeting, their first on Russian soil, the reclusive, 59-year-old North Korean dictator visited Soviet founder Vladimir Lenin's tomb on Red Square, becoming the first world leader to do so since the Soviet Union disintegrated a decade ago.
Kim arrived in Moscow late Friday night after a nine-day train trip of nearly 4,000 miles across Russia's expanse that has been cloaked in secrecy and tight security. Former Soviet President Mikhail Gorbachev on Saturday criticized security arrangements for Kim as "something that took place only in the times of (Soviet dictator Josef) Stalin," in remarks broadcast on Russian television.
Relations between the two former ideological allies were frayed by Moscow's establishment of ties with pro-Western South Korea in 1990 and by the Soviet Union's collapse the following year. Putin has courted European leaders and pursued pro-market economic policies since his election last year. But he is also reviving ties with Soviet-era allies such as North Korea and Iraq in seeking to restore some of Moscow's lost global clout. Russia and North Korea, along with China, are strong opponents of Washington's missile defense program. The United States says it needs the system to guard against threats from "rogue" countries such as North Korea and Iraq.
In the declaration, North Korea claimed that its missile program is "peaceful" and poses no threat to any country that respects its sovereignty. North Korea confirmed its plan to continue missile development but vowed to observe a promised missile test moratorium until 2003. Kim announced the 2003 moratorium during his meeting with Putin last year. North Korea rattled several countries by test-firing a missile that flew over Japan and landed in the Pacific Ocean in 1997. The CIA believes the communist country has the capability to develop a longer-range missile that can reach the western edges of the United States, Hawaii and Alaska.
Washington needs Moscow's consent to revise or abandon the 1972 Anti-Ballistic Missile Treaty, which its anti-missile program would violate, possibly as early as this winter. Russia strongly opposes amending the treaty. "The 1972 Anti-Ballistic Missile Treaty is the cornerstone of strategic stability and the foundation of further reduction of strategic offensive arms," the document said.
It gave no clue to whether North Korea is willing to reopen talks with the United States anytime soon. North Korea has yet to respond officially to President Bush's June 6 offer of dialogue. North Korea instead renewed its demand for an end to the U.S. military presence in South Korea. About 37,000 U.S. troops are stationed in South Korea as a deterrent against military threats from the North.
Kim and Putin embraced repeatedly before posing for Russian television cameras in the ornate Grand Kremlin Palace sitting on green-upholstered sofas with elaborate gold frames. Later, Putin played host at a dinner and Kremlin concert in Kim's honor. The meeting, for all its political undertones, appeared also aimed at pragmatic economic cooperation.
Russia promised to help rebuild dilapidated power and other industrial plants in North Korea built with Soviet support and technology. But it indicated that its support would be linked to North Korea's settlement of debts to Moscow, estimated at $5.5 billion. The declaration also said the two countries will closely work together on linking Russia's Trans-Siberian Railway with the rail systems of the two Koreas, which could dramatically boost Asia-Europe trade across Russian territory. This project, it said, "is entering a stage of active development."
Russia expressed hope that a stalled inter-Korea dialogue will resume and offered to play a mediating role. Inter-Korean exchanges that thrived after the first-ever summit of their leaders last year have come to a virtual standstill because of U.S.-North Korean tensions. The Russia trip was Kim's third abroad since he took power after his father died in 1994. He has visited China twice. © 2001 The Associated Press
By Ron Popeski, Saturday August 4 6:11 PM ET
MOSCOW (Reuters) - North Korean leader Kim Jong-il tours facilities linked to Russia's space program on Sunday after pledging to uphold a missile launch moratorium and dismissing U.S. fears that his country was a threat to stability. Kim, making his first known foreign trip other than to China, met President Vladimir Putin (news - web sites) on Saturday after a nine-day train journey across Russia's vast expanses. The two men described their talks as ``a historic landmark'' in boosting world peace.
Kim's trip, his visit to the Red Square mausoleum housing Soviet state founder Vladimir Lenin's embalmed body and intense security imposed at North Korea (news - web sites)'s request has raised eyebrows.``It all looked very natural, especially on Red Square where a great leader in a tunic lays a wreath at a mausoleum devoted to another great leader,'' an NTV television reporter said. ``The general impression is of being in a time machine. In personal terms, it was like a chill running down your spine.''
On Sunday, the North Korean leader visits the Khrunichev space center, which produces rockets for launching satellites and hopes to become involved in the International Space Station (news - web sites). He then journeys outside the capital to Russia's mission control center, which tracks and directs Russia's space flights, including military satellites. In the evening, Kim reboards his armored train to go on to St. Petersburg, Russia's second city.
Close Soviet-era ties between North Korea and Moscow cooled after the 1991 collapse of communism as Moscow nurtured trade links with South Korea (news - web sites). But under Putin, Moscow has refocused attention on former allies, also including Iran, Iraq and Libya. In Saturday's Kremlin talks, both sides sought to allay U.S. concern that missiles from North Korea, one of several ''rogue states'' cited by Washington, could upset world stability -- the key premise of Washington's plan to build an anti-missile defense shield. ``North Korea asserts that its missile program is peaceful in nature and does not present a threat to any nation respecting North Korea's sovereignty,'' a joint statement said.
Russia-N. Korea Declaration Excerpt
The Associated Press
Saturday, August 4, 2001; 11:13 AM
Excerpts from the Moscow Declaration signed in the Kremlin on Saturday by North Korean leader Kim Jong Il and Russian President Vladimir Putin, released in part by the Russian presidential press service and the ITAR-Tass news agency:
–MISSILE DEFENSE:
"Calling to attention that the 1972 ABM treaty is the cornerstone of strategic stability and the basis for further reductions in strategic offensive weapons, the leaders of both countries expressed decisiveness in the new century to cooperate in all possible ways for the strengthening of international security.
The Korean side confirmed that the missile program of the DPRK (Democratic People's Republic of Korea) is of a peaceful nature and therefore does not pose a threat to any country that respects the sovereignty of the DPRK."
–ECONOMY:
"The sides, in making earlier agreements on economic and trade cooperation more concrete, agreed to prioritize the reconstruction of jointly built enterprises, in particular in electricity generation, on the basis of settling past problems in bilateral accounts."
–RAILROAD LINK:
"The sides pledge to make all the necessary efforts ... to create a railroad transport corridor uniting the North and South of the Korean Peninsula with Russia and Europe, and announced that work on uniting the Korean and Russian railways is entering a stage of active development."
–INTER-KOREA DIALOGUE:
"The leaders of both countries agreed that support for the efforts of the Korean people toward the independent and peaceful unification of the country ... will help settle the issue of uniting Korea, and declared that outside interference is unacceptable in this process.
Russia also wished success in the negotiation process between DPRK and such countries as the United States and Japan."
–U.S. TROOPS:
"The DPRK reiterated its position that the withdrawal of American troops from South Korea will endure no delay and is a pressing problem in the interests of peace and security on the Korean peninsula and in Northeast Asia. The Russian side expressed understanding of this position." © 2001 The Associated Press
By PAUL SHIN, Associated Press Writer Friday August 3 3:02 PM ET
MOSCOW (AP) - After a nine-day trip by train across Russia, North Korean leader Kim Jong Il rolled into Moscow on Friday for talks expected to focus on renewing an alliance with Russia and shaping a new security agenda on the volatile Korean peninsula. Tight security was in force as the 21-car train carrying the secretive Kim and his 150-strong entourage rolled into the Yaroslavsky Station in central Moscow shortly before 10 p.m. The homeless people and beggars who usually inhabit the station had been kicked out, and janitors had freshly scrubbed the floors, windows and even the station's statue of Lenin. In a major inconvenience for tens of thousands of Muscovites, all commuter train service from the station were halted for several hours before Kim's arrival, media reports said - rush hour for Muscovites heading for suburban summer cottages for the weekend. From the train station, Kim was to be driven to a Kremlin guest house for his first night in Moscow. He was scheduled to meet Russian President Vladimir Putin (news - web sites) on Saturday and attend a dinner and concert in his honor later in the day.
The trip was Kim's first to Russia as president and his third abroad since he took power after his father, Kim Il Sung, died in 1994. He has visited China twice as leader. Some Russian political leaders took note of the tight security, saying that it was unlikely that such measures were initiated by Russian authorities.Kim's trip ``throughout all of Russia, with unscheduled stops at various stations, resembles a theatrical performance from the old films about Stalin, which many have already forgotten,'' Sergei Ivanenko, a parliament deputy from the liberal Yabloko party, was quoted as saying by the Interfax news agency.
Little has been made public about the agenda and other details of Kim's visit. There has not even been an official announcement on the duration of his stay. On Sunday, Kim will visit mission control for Russia's space agency and the country's leading space manufacturing plant outside Moscow before heading for St. Petersburg, Russia's former imperial capital, for a two-day stay there, the ITAR-TASS news agency said. Kim will return to Moscow on Tuesday and embark on another laborious train journey back home the next day, it said.
No official reason was given for Kim's space-related visits. Putin said after visiting North Korea (news - web sites) last year that Pyongyang was ready to abandon its missile program if other nations would help it launch civilian satellites. Russian officials said Putin and Kim are expected to sign a joint declaration on world affairs, which presumably includes strong shared opposition to U.S. plans to build a missile defense system. Washington says it needs a missile shield against threats from ``rogue'' countries such as North Korea and Iraq. Kim's stand on the missile issue will be closely watched by Washington, which has yet to receive a formal response to U.S. President George W. Bush (news - web sites)'s offer to resume talks.
The visit will also be closely scrutinized by South Korea (news - web sites) who hopes that it will help stimulate a stalled inter-Korea dialogue. Russia has shown an interest in moving the process forward. Russian media also said the Putin-Kim meeting will cover possible Russian arms sales on favorable terms to North Korea. But any arms sales are likely to be limited in scale by North Korea's extreme poverty. The Korea border is the world's most heavily armed. North Korean soldiers who have defected to South Korea have said many of the communist country's weapons, including tanks, are idle because of lack of spare parts. Another possible summit agenda is Russia's hope to link its Trans-Siberian Railway with North Korea's rail system in a project that may eventually link South Korea directly to Europe, Russian media said.
Текст: Степан Осенчук 03 АВГУСТА 19:14
Сотни тысяч москвичей, омичей, екатеринбуржцев, питерцев и прочих российских граждан испытали (и еще испытают) на своей шкуре тяготы и невзгоды, связанные с ездой корейского вождя по нашим железным дорогам. Многие из них уже готовятся подать иски за причиненные неудобства. Сын Ким Ир Сена (это который не соус, а Великий Вождь) будет жить в Кремле – такой чести
удостаивался мало кто из зарубежных политиков (кроме президентов Египта и Ирана). По итогам переговоров Путина и Ким Чен Ира, скорее всего, будет принято решение об оказании Северной Корее помощи в «промышленной и народно-хозяйственной сферах». Причем почти безвозмездно, в лучших традициях СССР. Вместе с тем ничего особенно коммунистического в визите товарища Кима нет.
Он отказался от встречи с Геннадием Селезневым, не захотел идти в Мавзолей вместе с Зюгановым (тот от огорчения уехал в Орел) и, скорее всего, не взойдет даже на палубу «Авроры». Руководитель КНДР приехал совершенно не для этого. И даже не для того чтобы закупить новейшие омские танки Т-80У.
Как полагает известный думский международник Лукин, Ким Чен Ир приехал просить помощи, потому что Корея в безвыходной ситуации – голод, нищета, развал экономики и т.п. Жаль, но Владимир Петрович на этот раз ошибается. Это Москва попросила корейскую делегацию приехать за российской помощью.
Смысл существования Северной Кореи заключается в том, что она еще есть. Один аспект этого смысла (выраженный в словосочетании «государство-изгой с ракетами») используется США для оправдания решительного увеличения расходов на оборону. То есть на разработку и создание системы НПРО и ряд других стратегических мероприятий. Вместе с тем, наличие КНДР и ее гипотетическое
объединение с Южной Кореей есть важный фактор геополитической игры в Юго-Восточной Азии. Россию интересует как первое, так и второе.
Ради внешнеполитического эффекта этих заявлений и страдают тысячами российские граждане, ущемленные в своем праве на свободное передвижение по железнодорожным путям. И, надо полагать, не зря. Администрация США уже оперативно отреагировала на путешествие товарища Кима из Пхеньяна в Петербург и обратно, и предложила
нам свои ракетные технологии. Это не совсем та реакция, которую мы ожидали, но торговле вокруг договора по ПРО, видимо, суждено так и развиваться – из стороны в сторону, галсами. Поскольку всем хорошо понятно, что американская система ПРО неизбежно будет построена, Россия стремится выбить под это дело из Штатов максимум уступок.
Когда товарищ Ким отправится в обратное странствие, увозя с собой экземпляр Московской декларации и путинское обещание экономической помощи, российские официальные лица ответят на пятничную инициативу Кондолизы Райс. Возможно, это будет предложение о создании международного центра по изучению и разработке ракетных и антиракетных технологий. Возможно, любое другое,
которое будет уводить как можно дальше в сторону от отмены договора по ПРО. Ким Чен Иру, впрочем, это будет уже совершенно безразлично – он свое дело сделал.
P.S. Кстати, «Газете.Ru» из конфиденциальных источников стала известна причина нежелания товарища Кима общаться с российскими гражданами и прессой, что так возмутило журналистов. Просто любимый корейский руководитель не увидел в окне своего чудо-поезда многокилометровых шеренг россиян с флажками и воздушными шариками. А без флажков и шариков он наружу не выходит. (in
Russian)
By Paul Shin
Associated Press Writer
Friday, August 3, 2001; 8:30 AM
MOSCOW –– A bomb threat was phoned in Friday to the Moscow train station where North Korean leader Kim Jong Il was to arrive, prompting Russian security agents with sniffer dogs to conduct an extensive search before declaring it a prank, officials said. The Yaroslavsky station was evacuated during the 1½-hour search during the morning rush hour, said a spokesman for the Moscow branch of the Federal Security Service. Tight security was in force as the 21-car train carrying the secretive North Korean leader and his entourage rolled closer to its destination in Moscow after a laborious nine-day journey across Russia's expanse.
In a major inconvenience for tens of thousands of Muscovites, all commuter train service from the Yaroslavsky station will be halted for nearly four hours Friday evening – the prime commute period for Muscovites heading home or to summer cottages outside the capital – before Kim's arrival, media reports said. Kim's train made its last 30-minute technical stopover at Kirov on Friday morning before resuming the trip to Moscow, the ITAR-Tass news agency said. At least 100 police and security agents with sniffer dogs guarded the train, it said.
After his first night in Moscow at the Kremlin guest house, Kim will meet Russian President Vladimir Putin on Saturday. The focus of the talks are expected to renew an alliance with Russia and affect the security agenda on the Korean peninsula, the Cold War's last frontier. The trip was Kim's first to Russia as president and his third abroad since he took power after his father and president, Kim Il Sung, died in 1994.
Putin said after visiting North Korea last year that Pyongyang was ready to abandon its missile program if other nations would help it launch civilian satellites. Russian officials said Putin and Kim are expected to sign a "Moscow Declaration" on world affairs, which presumably include their strong opposition to U.S. plans to build a missile defense system. Washington says it needs a missile shield against threats from "rogue" countries such as North Korea and Iraq.
Kim's stand on the missile issue will be closely watched by Washington, which has yet to receive a formal North Korean response to President Bush's offer to resume bilateral talks.The Interfax news agency, quoting unidentified Russian sources, said the Putin-Kim meeting will cover Russian arms sales on favorable terms to North Korea. But any arms sales are unlikely to be large in scale because of North Korea's limited ability to pay cash, it said. © 2001 The Associated Press
 Текст: Юрий Шаталин Фото: HTB |
Бронепоезд закрыл Ярославский вокзал03 АВГУСТА 12:07 . Визит любимого руководителя в Россию в самом разгаре. Сегодня вечером северокорейский лидер приезжает в Москву для встречи с Путиным. В 21.40 бронепоезд товарища Кима прибывает на Ярославский вокзал. Поэтому москвичи, которые захотят воспользоваться ярославским направлением сегодня вечером, должны быть готовы к трудностям. С 19.00 до 23.00 будут отменены 14 пригородных электричек. |
Готовиться к приезду Ким Чен Ира начали с самого утра. Уже около 7.00 в милицию позвонил неизвестный и сообщил, что на Ярославском вокзале заложена бомба. В течение 15 минут сотрудники милиции провели на вокзале полную эвакуацию, перекрыв все входы в кассы и залы ожидания. Пассажирам сообщили, что это вызвано техническими причинами. Приблизительно через полтора часа выяснилось, что звонок был ложным. Прибывший на вокзал кинолог с собакой бомбу не обнаружил. Правоохранительные органы ведут усиленный поиск телефонного террориста, а Ярославский вокзал продолжает действовать в нормальном режиме. И все же гражданам пассажирам рано радоваться: нормальная работа вокзала продлится недолго.
Единственным поездом, который прибудет на вокзал в это время, будет «броневик» северного корейца номер один. Все отправления пригородных электричек будут перенесены или вовсе отменены (14 поездов). Кроме того, отменены или перенесены отправления всех дальних поездов, которые выходят с Ярославского вокзала в этот промежуток времени. А все приходящие составы будут держать на подходах к столице до десяти вечера. В связи с приостановкой работы Ярославского вокзала столичное ГИБДД предупреждает, что в пятницу после 18.00 на Ярославском шоссе ожидаются большие пробки. Поэтому все, кто хочет вовремя добраться, например до Монино, должны выехать пораньше, причем на своей машине.
Как сообщил "Газете.Ru" директор эксплуатационной службы компании "Автолайн", которая организует работу маршрутных такси в столице, Павел Аленчьев, компания не ожидает большого потока людей в пятницу вечером в Ярославском направлении, поэтому не будет запускать дополнительные маршруты. В ответственный день приема Ким Чен Ира руководство Ярославского вокзала вполне осознало: будет много звонков. Поэтому оно любезно заблокировало два имеющихся справочных телефона – 921-08-17 и 921-59-14. Теперь граждане могут сосредоточиться на телефоне общей справочной железной дороги 266-95-00.
By Daniel Mclaughlin Friday August 3 4:51 AM ET
MOSCOW (Reuters) - Moscow woke to a bomb scare and warnings of transport misery for tens of thousands of residents on Friday, as North Korean leader Kim Jong-il's nine-day train ride across Russia chugged toward its Kremlin stop. The 21-carriage armored train of Pyongyang's Dear Leader has left closed roads, shuttered stations and fuming residents in its hefty wake, as it rolled 5,600 miles and eight time zones across Siberia from Stalinist North Korea (news - web sites).
Curious media have been kept well back from Kim on his voyage across Russia, the only country he is known to have visited except China, and have strained for a glimpse of the diminutive 59-year old in trademark tunic and dark glasses. And now Moscow, where Kim is due to meet President Vladimir Putin and visit Russian space bases this weekend, is falling under the Dear Leader's spell.
Moscow police said they received a bomb threat on Friday morning at Yaroslavsky train station, the starting point and terminus for the Trans-Siberian express and Kim's scheduled point of arrival at about 10 p.m. Police deemed the threat a hoax after searching the station with sniffer dogs, leaving scores of workers to continue touching up the station's paint before the big arrival.
Radio and television stations warned Muscovites they would face travel chaos on Friday evening, a time when local ''elektrichka'' trains are always packed in summer with people heading for their dachas, country homes outside the city. Vedomosti newspaper posted an announcement on its front page that local trains would be delayed or cancelled from 7 p.m. for almost four hours, repeating a pattern of severe disruption which has followed Kim across Siberia.
``GROTESQUE ENTOURAGE''
Russian television has shown residents of Siberian cities complaining about the heavy handed nature of Kim's security demands, which have forced the closure of busy stations for hours around the slow procession of Kim's train through town. But Vladimir Lukin, the deputy speaker of Russia's lower house of parliament, urged Russians not to judge Kim by the trappings and idiosyncrasies of his entourage. ``The outward reality is that of a train with darkened windows, a grotesque entourage and so on,'' Lukin told Ekho Moskvy radio. ``But behind that there are people on the train who fully understand what situation they are in, what's going on in the world and they will enter into discussions based on that understanding.''
Lukin said Kim would sign a decree on strategic cooperation with Russia and discuss Asian-Pacific stability, in light of the United States' plan to create a missile shield to neutralize the threat from what it calls ``rogue states,'' North Korea included. Starved of access to the reclusive Kim, Russian media swarmed over photographs published in a tabloid newspaper on Thursday which appeared to show a spray of bullet holes in the side of one of his armored train carriages. But a North Korean official firmly denied the report, which cited an expert saying the marks resembled bullet holes from an AK-47 rifle. The official said no photographer could have got close enough to take pictures if any such incident had occurred.
N. Korea Denies Bullets Hit Moscow-Bound Kim TrainThursday August 2 9:38 PM ET MOSCOW (Reuters) - North Korea (news - web sites)'s embassy in Moscow denied a Russian tabloid newspaper report on Thursday that bullet holes were visible on leader Kim Jong-il's train as it headed toward Moscow. The tabloid Komsomolskaya Pravda printed what it said was an image from a frame of video footage of the Pyongyang leader's armored train, filmed during a stopover in Siberia, showing white spots beneath a window. It said experts had studied the image and believed the spots were holes made by 7.62 mm rounds, like the bullets in an AK-47 automatic rifle. But a North Korean embassy official said the report was ''not true.'' |
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``There are hundreds of guards around the train,'' he said. ''If anything like that had happened on an official visit -- the train being shot at -- there is no way anyone would have been able to get close enough to take such a picture.'' Russia's FSB security police did not respond to a written request for comment.
Kim wrapped up a day-long stopover in the Siberian city of Omsk on Wednesday and was due to arrive in Moscow on Friday night. He has spent a week traveling by rail across Russia, repeating a journey made by his late father, North Korea's founding leader Kim Il-sung in 1984. Interfax news agency said Kim would stay at the Kremlin while in Moscow. He will hold talks with Russian President Vladimir Putin (news - web sites) on Saturday and will visit space bases on Sunday before heading on to Russia's second city, St. Petersburg.
Russian officials have said that, when Kim finally arrives in Moscow, economic issues will be the focus of his talks. Moscow no longer sponsors Stalinist North Korea and now has healthy trade links with the South, but hopes it can still use its old ties with Pyongyang to ease tensions on the divided peninsula and draw the North out of its isolation. A much heralded plan calls for the Trans-Siberian railway to be extended to South Korea (news - web sites) via the North.
Kim Heading for Moscow With Eye on U.S.
Putin May Serve As Icebreaker for N. Korean Leader
By Sharon LaFraniere
Washington Post Foreign Service
Thursday, August 2, 2001; Page A12
MOSCOW, Aug. 1 -- Today was the seventh day of North Korean leader Kim Jong Il's 5,800-mile train trip across Russia, as he heads for what could be significant arms talks with President Vladimir Putin this weekend. The secretive leader, who is afraid to fly, is rattling toward Moscow in a dark green, Japanese-made, 21-car armored train, accompanied by a staff of more than 100, including doctors and cooks. The train windows are tinted, the platforms are cleared for stops and glimpses of Kim are rare.
Though the circumstances are more than odd, foreign policy analysts say the purpose of Kim's trip to Moscow is easy to grasp: They see it as part of his effort to reduce his impoverished country's isolation, as well as a possible attempt to renew talks with the United States about North Korea's missile program. As soon as he took office, President Bush suspended discussions with North Korea. Following a policy review, he offered in June to restart negotiations on a variety of issues, including North Korea's production and export of missiles and its stationing of soldiers on the South Korean border.
Ivo H. Daalder, a foreign policy expert at the Brookings Institution in Washington, said using Putin as a messenger would allow Kim to reopen talks without losing face. Kim wants to re-engage with the Americans," Daalder said, "but he won't do it as a beggar. It's easier for him to do it through Russia, with Russia as the surrogate, even though the audience is Washington." The United States hopes Russia will use its influence to encourage Kim to negotiate with Washington and visit Seoul for a second summit with South Korean President Kim Dae Jung. Although he said he had no expectations from Kim Jong Il's visit to Moscow, Secretary of State Colin L. Powell said last week in Seoul that a diplomatic push from Putin "would be very useful."
From Putin's standpoint, any concessions by Kim could strengthen his own hand in Russia's talks with the United States on missile defense. Bush administration officials cite North Korea as one of the main justifications for developing some kind of missile shield, even though a 1972 U.S.-Soviet arms control treatylimits such defenses. If he can persuade Kim to resume negotiations with the United States, Putin is better positioned to argue that a missile defense system is unnecessary. "It's important for the Kremlin to show that Kim is not a real threat, but much more civilized," said Pavel Felgenhauer, a Russian military analyst in Moscow.
Kim is expected to arrive in Moscow on Friday night and meet with Putin on Saturday. In an interview last week with the Russian Tass news agency, Kim insisted that North Korea's missile program was "purely peaceful" and that U.S. claims of a North Korean missile threat were "nothing but a lie to hide its intention to dominate other countries." Kim's visit follows that of Condoleezza Rice, the Bush administration's national security adviser, who flew to Moscow last week to set a timetable for talks on missile defense and cuts in nuclear missile arsenals. Rice said at a news conference after the talks that "the ballistic missiles that the North Koreans are spreading around the world" threatened the security of both the United States and Russia.
During Putin's first meeting with Kim, in Pyongyang a year ago, Kim promised that North Korea would drop its missile program if other countries would launch its commercial satellites. Later, Kim reportedly told South Korean executives he had been joking. Kim's 10-day train ride to Moscow is only the third known foreign trip he has made since he came to power in 1994. During a 24-hour stopover today in the Siberian city of Omsk, Kim toured a tank factory, a pig farm and a library built in 1905. He was given a miniature set -- no bigger than matchbooks -- of Russian classics. His father and predecessor, Kim Il Sung, made similar journeys across Russia in 1956 and 1984. © 2001 The Washington Post Company
The New York Times reported that Kim Jong-il has avoided public appearances during his current trip to Russia. Jon Wolfsthal at the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace in Washington stated, "I've never fallen into the mindset that Kim Jong Il is a mysterious, hermetic semi-loon. Here's a guy who does have some contact with reality, whether it's surfing the Web or movies or whatever." He added, however, "I don't think he'd be comfortable walking down Broadway in New York." (Michael Wines, "IN WHICH WE LEARN HOW TO HIDE A HEAD OF STATE," Omsk, 08/02/01)
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Текст: Артем Вернидуб Фото: КП. |
В Ким Чен Ира стреляли со скукиКим Чен Ир так упорно прячется от прессы, что мог бы уже окончательно надоесть всем, доехав до Москвы. Но положение спасли омские фотокорреспонденты. Они обнаружили на бронепоезде лидера КНДР пулевые отверстия от автомата Калашникова. Омск оказался единственным городом на пути из Пхеньяна в Москву, в где любимый руководитель северокорейского народа вышел из своего бронированного вагона. Ким Чен Ир прибыл сюда во вторник и уехал вечером в среду. |
Для почетного гостя омичи приготовили богатую культурную программу: танковый завод, театр, мясокомбинат, библиотека. Ким Чен Иру подарили пять маленьких книжек, а колбасу «Омского бекона», как стало известно журналистам осведомленных источников, лидер КНДР есть отказался. Хотя этой зимой ее смело ел президент Путин. Увидеть Ким Чен Ира своими глазами журналистам позволили как раз на мясокомбинате, с расстояния сто-двести метров. Многие обиделись и махнули на Ким Чен Ира рукой.
Как выясняется, зря. Сенсация фотокорреспондентов ждала на центральном вокзале, где на запасном пути отдыхал бронепоезд Кима. Отсюда некоторые из них вернулись в редакции со снимками бронированной обшивки одного из вагонов, на которой отчетливо видны пулевые отверстия. Так как неясно, в каком из 12 броневагонов путешествует товарищ Ким Чен Ир, можно предположить, что стреляли именно в него.
В Москве сенсационное фото было опубликовано в «Комсомольской правде». Снимок сопровождается комментарием, из которого становится ясно, что в бронепоезде Ким Чен Ира зияет десять отверстий, «одно из которых обведено мелом». Эксперты «КП» с уверенностью заявили, что «судя по расположению повреждений и размеру отверстий, похоже, в вагон попали пули калибра 7,62». То есть, например, от автомата Калашникова. А меловой круг – это след баллистической экспертизы. «Судя по расстановке охраны, у корейцев есть какая-то информация по возможным снайперам, так как в Омске гости совместно со столичными коллегами блокировали все подходы к крышам домов по маршруту следования Великого руководителя»,– заявляет «КП». (in
Russian)
Joongang Ilbo reported that it has been lately confirmed that Kim Yong-chun was among the party members accompanying DPRK Leader Kim Jong-il to his trip to Moscow on Wednesday August 1. It has not been confirmed when and how he came to join Kim's party, but one high-level ROK government source said that Kim Yong-chun has joined Chairman Kim since July 30, the day he arrived at Russian city of Omsk. "It's true that Kim Yong-chun was left behind to attend the Pyongyang meeting," Jung Chang-hyun, a researcher of the Unification Research Institute (URI) in Seoul said. "He must've caught up with the others by plane so as not to miss military talks between the North and Russia for the upcoming summit." (Kim Hee-sung, "N.K. GENERAL KIM YONG-CHUN JOINS MOSCOW TRIP," Seoul, 08/02/01)
Joongang Ilbo reported that DPRK leader Kim Jong-il visited several defense contractors in the Siberian city of Omsk, Russia on Tuesday. The only other time Kim has gotten off his train since he left for Moscow was at Lake Baikal. In Omsk, he watched a performance by a Russian military choir and visited several weapons plants and a bacon factory. He expressed particular interest in Transmach, the company that builds T-80U and T-90U tanks, and Palyot, which manufactures planes and satellites. Analysts said that the visit signals the DPRK's urgent desire for expanded military cooperation with Russia. (Kim Seok-hwan, "KIM TOURS ARMS PLANTS, BACON FACTORY IN SIBERIA," Moscow, 08/02/01)
By Soo-Jeong Lee
Associated Press Writer
Wednesday, August 1, 2001; 11:39 AM
SEOUL, South Korea –– It's like Kremlin-watching in the former Soviet Union: to figure out the power hierarchy in North Korea, scrutinize official photos and television footage to see who's standing where on the podium. But now, it's the train carrying North Korean leader Kim Jong Il to Moscow that's being watched. There are reportedly 150 people on the train. They include Yon Hyong Muk, former prime minister and a member of the North's most powerful agency, the National Defense Commission; Jon Hui Jong, Kim's chief protocol officer; and Kim Yong Chun, chief of the military's general staff. Yon headed talks with South Korea that led to a nonaggression agreement in 1991. Inter-Korean tension made the deal little more than symbolic. Television footage showed Yon and Jon with Kim Jong Il when he met Russian officials shortly after crossing from North Korea into Russia at the beginning of his trip a week ago.
Kim Yong Chun was spotted late Tuesday when Kim Jong Il arrived in the Western Siberian city of Omsk, according to Choi Byung-suk, a video analyst at the South Korean Unification Ministry. Choi said Kim Yong Chun made a public appearance in Pyongyang one day after the train left for Moscow, so he likely flew in to join the entourage later. Absent these days is Vice Marshal Jo Myong Rok, a key aide to Kim Jong Il. South Korean officials believe the 71-year-old vice marshal is sick. The whereabouts of Kim Yong Nam, North Korea's ceremonial head of state, are not publicly known.
Kim Jong Il, who is reputed to hate flying, opted for a 10-day train ride on his third foreign trip as North Korea's leader. His reluctance to go abroad has prompted rumours that he is afraid of a coup if he travels. If that is the case, most high-ranking North Korean officials who stayed in Pyongyang likely enjoy the trust of their leader. They include Kim Il Chol, minister of the People's Armed Forces, and Marshal Ri Ul Sol, 80, who sits on the National Defense Commission, which is chaired by Kim Jong Il. Foreign Minister Paek Nam Sun met the departing Czech ambassador on Wednesday in Pyongyang, the North's media reported.
Another prominent dignitary who did not go to Russia is Kim Yong Sun, who handles policy with South Korea and other countries that have no formal ties with the communist state. He appeared Friday at a commemoration of the anniversary of the 1953 armistice that ended the Korean War. Kim Yong Sun has made only one reported public appearance beside Kim Jong Il this year, compared to 16 times in the first half of 2000, according to South Korean officials. At that time, relations between the two Koreas were warming ahead of a historic summit in Pyongyang. But North Korea cut off official contacts with the South this year amid deteriorating ties with Washington. © 2001 The Associated Press.
By Ivan Sekretarev
Associated Press Writer
Wednesday, August 1, 2001; 8:52 AM
OMSK, Russia –– North Korea's reclusive leader Kim Jong Il toured a tank factory, pig farm and library during a stopover in western Siberia on Wednesday as he traversed Russia's vast expanse by train. Kim wore dark glasses and a green military-style suit as he was escorted to the Transmash factory in the city of Omsk, amid the heavy security that has characterized his trip – only his third foreign visit as North Korean leader. Officials at Transmash, whose flagship product is the T-80 tank, expressed hope that the visit would produce new contracts, the ITAR-Tass news agency reported. Kim was also shown a tractor production hall, ITAR-Tass said. The visit was closed to journalists.
Later, Kim was guided around the Pushkin Library in central Omsk, where librarians prepared an exhibit of works by his father, Kim Il Sung. He also visited the Omsk Bacon pig farm and then resumed his journey to Moscow, where he was expected to meet Russian President Vladimir Putin on Saturday. Kim's journey in a private, Japanese-made, 21-car train along the famed Trans-Siberian railway has been shrouded in secrecy since he arrived in Russia's Far East on Thursday. He has rarely emerged from the train, and media access to has been heavily restricted. A visit to a tank firing range in Omsk was canceled, apparently because of security concerns.
During the Omsk visit, Kim's train was cleaned and polished at the depot while Russian security agents stood guard, local media reported. Representatives of the local branch of the Russian-North Korean Friendship Society had hoped to meet Kim at an Omsk theater after his arrival Tuesday evening but were denied access to him, the Interfax news agency said. Meanwhile, ITAR-Tass reported that Kim may visit Mission Control for the Russian space agency and a near full-size model of the Mir space station on display at the Khrunichev aerospace plant during his Moscow visit. © 2001 The Associated Press
