Kim Jong-Il to meet Putin

Russian economic reforms of interest to North Korea

North Korea’s leader Kim Jong-Il has arrived in Russia for a series of meetings which will culminate in the summit with president Vladimir Putin on Friday in Vladivostok, when the Russian economic reforms will be the subject of discussion.

The visit began on Tuesday when the Presidential train crossed the frontier at the railway station of Khassan, from where it travelled to Konsomolsk-Amur, 900 km. to the north, where the North Korean President visited military factories on Wednesday. On Thursday, there will be another stop at Khabarovsk and finally, the summit on Friday with President Putin in Vladivostok.

The main aim of the visit is to study Russian economic programmes in the Far East. North Korea has started an economic reform programme, increasing salaries and prices so as to increase production and control the black market.

Timofei BYELO PRAVDA.Ru