Kim Jong Un gifts Putin dogs as leaders bond over animals, ride horses

North Korean leader Kim Jong Un gave Russian President Vladimir Putin a pair of Pungsan dogs, a local breed, state media KCNA reported on June 20.

Mr. Kim and Mr. Putin were seen looking at the dogs, who were tied to a rose-covered fence, during a segment aired on the state-controlled Korean Central Television on Thursday.

Also Read | The quick transformation of Russia-North Korea ties 

The two bonded over animals as Mr. Kim fed carrots to a horse while Mr. Putin patted it on its head.

Mr. Kim, a horseman, was famously pictured riding a white stallion in Mount Paektu during snowfall in photos released by state media in 2019, flooding the internet with memes.

He was seen riding a white horse again in a propaganda video in 2022.

The horses Mr. Kim rode are symbolic for North Korea, which named its economic effort to recover from the 1950-53 Korean War after the mythical winged horse Chollima. The country’s latest rocket booster is also named Chollima-1.

Mr. Putin, who prizes his sporty image, has also been pictured shirtless several times in photos released by Russian state media, including one set in which he rode a brown horse while wearing wrap-around sunglasses, a gold chain and army trousers.

Pungsans are a breed of hunting dogs native to a region in northern North Korea.

Also Read | A timeline of the complicated relations between Russia and North Korea

Former South Korean president Moon Jae-in also received a pair of white Pungsans — named “Gomi” and “Songgang” — from Mr. Kim in 2018 during a breakthrough in inter-Korean relations.

In 2022, a freight train carrying 30 grey thoroughbred horses heading to North Korea departed Russia’s far east through the Khasan-Tumangan crossing, according to Russia’s veterinary service, in what appeared to be the first reported train shipment between the two countries post-pandemic.

Putin gifts second Russian luxury limousine to Kim

Earlier on June 19, Vladimir Putin gifted a second Aurus luxury limousine to North Korean leader Kim Jong-Un, as the two countries announced a breakthrough in their strategic partnership during the Russian President’s rare visit to the reclusive state.

Mr. Putin, 71, gave Mr. Kim an Aurus luxury car when the two leaders exchanged gifts, according to Russian state media – the second time Mr. Putin has given his counterpart this car model. According to Mr. Putin’s aide Yuri Ushakov, the Russian leader also presented Kim with a tea set. Mr. Ushakov did not specify what Mr. Putin received, but said they were “also good gifts.” “They have already exchanged gifts,” he said. “We gave an Aurus,” Mr. Ushakov told Tass news agency without specifying the model. “Yes, this is the second one, not the third [we have given to Kim], the second, for sure,” he added.

Later, Mr. Putin took Mr. Kim, 40, for a spin in the Russian-made Aurus car to cap their day of talks.

Photos released by Russian media showed Mr. Putin and Mr. Kim taking turns to take the wheel in the new Aurus around the guest house following the summit talks.

Mr. Putin showed a model of an Aurus Motors executive car to the North Korean leader last September during Mr. Kim’s visit to the Vostochny Cosmodrome space launch site in the Amur Region in Russia’s Far East.

In February this year, Mr. Putin gifted an Aurus to Mr. Kim. He became the first leader to receive it as a gift, Tass reported without revealing the model.

“When the leader of the DPRK [Democratic People’s Republic of Korea] was at the Vostochny Cosmodrome spaceport, he saw this car; Mr. Putin personally showed it to him. Like many [auto enthusiasts], he liked the car, and so the decision was made (to present it to him as a gift),” Kremlin Spokesman Dmitry Peskov said in February.

In May, Mr. Putin presented King of Bahrain Hamad bin Isa Al Khalifa with a long version of the Aurus car, Presidential Aide Yury Ushakov said.

Meanwhile, South Korea’s Yonhap news agency reported that giving a vehicle as a gift to Mr. Kim constitutes a violation of UN Security Council sanctions banning the supply, sale and transfer of luxury items to North Korea, under Resolution 2397 adopted in December 2017.

The resolution was adopted unanimously on December 22, 2017, in response to North Korea’s launch of an intercontinental ballistic missile on November 28 of that year.

Aurus is the first Russian luxury car brand, which started to be built in 2013 under a contract with the Industry and Trade Ministry. The project calls for the development of vehicles both to replace current cars used by senior government officials and for sale to the general public.

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