North Korean leader Kim Jong-il arrives in Russia in a special train on August 20

North Korean leader Kim Jong-il on the night of August 20, Moscow time, will arrive in the Russian station of Hasan from Pyongyang in his special train.

The distinguished guest will be welcomed by plenipotentiary representative in the Russian President in Far Eastern Federal District Konstantin Pulikovsky, governor of the Maritime Territory Sergei Darkin and other officials.

After an hour-long stop at the Hasan station, the North Korean leader will go to Komsomolsk-on-Amur, an industrial centre in the Khabarovsk Territory, in which he will arrive on Wednesday morning. In that city, which is regarded as the capital of the military-industrial complex of the Russian Far East, Kim Jong-il plans to visit the Gagarin Aviation Industrial Association and the Amur Shipyards.

On Wednesday evening, Kim Jong-il will set out for the return journey and on Thursday morning will make a ten-hour stop in Khabarovsk, the centre of the Khabarovsk Territory. In the evening the same day he will go to Vladivostok, the centre of the Maritime Territory.