MOSCOW (AP) — Vladimir Putin on Wednesday gifted a second Aurus luxury limousine to North Korean leader Kim Jong-un as the two countries heralded a breakthrough in their strategic partnership during the Russian president's rare visit to the reclusive state.
Putin arrived in North Korea in the early hours of Wednesday local time, exactly 24 years after his last visit to Pyongyang, for a high-profile visit amid international concerns over their growing military cooperation and Moscow's invasion of Ukraine.
Putin said Russia and North Korea had taken relations to a "new level" and promised to help each other if the two countries were attacked.
According to Russian state media, Putin, 71, gave Kim an Aurus luxury car when the two leaders exchanged gifts - the second time Putin has given this car model to his counterpart. According to Putin's aide Yuri Ushakov, the Russian leader also presented Kim with a tea set.Ushakov did not say what Putin got, but said they were "nice gifts too."
“They have already exchanged gifts,” he said. "We have delivered an Aurus," Ushakov told the Tass news agency, without specifying the model. "Yes, this is the second, not the third [we've given to Kim], the second, for sure," he said.
Later, Putin took 40-year-old Kim for a ride in a Russian-made Aurus car to mark the day of their talks.Photos released by Russian media showed Putin and Kim driving around the guest house in New Aurus after the summit.
Putin showed a model of Aurus Motors' executive car to the North Korean leader during Kim's visit to the Vostochny Cosmodrome space launch site in the Amur region in Russia's Far East last September.
In February this year, Putin had gifted Aurus to Kim. Without disclosing the model, Tas said he became the first leader to receive it as a gift.
"When the leader of the DPRK [Democratic People's Republic of Korea] was at the Vostochny Cosmodrome spaceport, he saw this car; Putin personally showed it to him.Like many [auto enthusiasts], he liked the car, and so the decision was taken (to present it to him as a gift), Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov said in February.
In May, Putin presented a stretched version of the Aurus car to Bahrain's King Hamad bin Isa Al Khalifa, presidential aide Yuri Ushakov said.
Meanwhile, South Korea's Yonhap news agency reported that gifting the vehicle to Kim was in violation of UN Security Council sanctions banning the supply, sale and transfer of luxury goods to North Korea under Resolution 2397, adopted in December 2017. Is a violation of.
The resolution was adopted unanimously on December 22, 2017, in response to North Korea's launch of an intercontinental ballistic missile on November 28 that year.
Aurus is the first Russian luxury car brand, production of which began in 2013 under a contract with the Ministry of Industry and Trade.The project calls for the development of vehicles to replace current cars used by senior government officials and for sale to the general public.
Putin arrived in North Korea in the early hours of Wednesday local time, exactly 24 years after his last visit to Pyongyang, for a high-profile visit amid international concerns over their growing military cooperation and Moscow's invasion of Ukraine.
Putin said Russia and North Korea had taken relations to a "new level" and promised to help each other if the two countries were attacked.
According to Russian state media, Putin, 71, gave Kim an Aurus luxury car when the two leaders exchanged gifts - the second time Putin has given this car model to his counterpart. According to Putin's aide Yuri Ushakov, the Russian leader also presented Kim with a tea set.Ushakov did not say what Putin got, but said they were "nice gifts too."
“They have already exchanged gifts,” he said. "We have delivered an Aurus," Ushakov told the Tass news agency, without specifying the model. "Yes, this is the second, not the third [we've given to Kim], the second, for sure," he said.
Later, Putin took 40-year-old Kim for a ride in a Russian-made Aurus car to mark the day of their talks.Photos released by Russian media showed Putin and Kim driving around the guest house in New Aurus after the summit.
Putin showed a model of Aurus Motors' executive car to the North Korean leader during Kim's visit to the Vostochny Cosmodrome space launch site in the Amur region in Russia's Far East last September.
In February this year, Putin had gifted Aurus to Kim. Without disclosing the model, Tas said he became the first leader to receive it as a gift.
"When the leader of the DPRK [Democratic People's Republic of Korea] was at the Vostochny Cosmodrome spaceport, he saw this car; Putin personally showed it to him.Like many [auto enthusiasts], he liked the car, and so the decision was taken (to present it to him as a gift), Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov said in February.
In May, Putin presented a stretched version of the Aurus car to Bahrain's King Hamad bin Isa Al Khalifa, presidential aide Yuri Ushakov said.
Meanwhile, South Korea's Yonhap news agency reported that gifting the vehicle to Kim was in violation of UN Security Council sanctions banning the supply, sale and transfer of luxury goods to North Korea under Resolution 2397, adopted in December 2017. Is a violation of.
The resolution was adopted unanimously on December 22, 2017, in response to North Korea's launch of an intercontinental ballistic missile on November 28 that year.
Aurus is the first Russian luxury car brand, production of which began in 2013 under a contract with the Ministry of Industry and Trade.The project calls for the development of vehicles to replace current cars used by senior government officials and for sale to the general public.
