The two leaders sat in President Putin’s presidential limousine, Aurus.
Moscow:
Russian President Vladimir Putin on Wednesday invited North Korean leader Kim Jong Un to check out a Russian-made limousine ahead of a summit meeting, offering the guest a spacious back seat.
President Putin and Kim Jong-un toured the space launch facility at the modern Vostochny Cosmodrome in Russia’s Far East on Wednesday ahead of their summit, state television footage showed.
As they were walking to the main facilities while having casual conversations, they came to President Putin’s presidential limousine “Aurus” parked in the driveway, and as Kim Jong-un was standing there looking curious, he saw the Russian president. He gestured towards the car.
Putin invited Kim to get in the back seat and slide in next to the North Korean leader, who walked around and sat with a big smile on his face.
North Korea’s Korean Central News Agency reported on Thursday that “President Putin showed Kim Jong Un his private car before the warm talks.”
The Aurus Senat limousine was developed by the Russian National Automobile Research Institute, known by the acronym NAMI.
Putin drove an Aurus for the first time at his fourth inauguration in 2018, ditching his old Mercedes in a patriotic message of self-sufficiency.
Kim boarded a special train from Pyongyang with a large entourage on Wednesday and headed to the space station in a private Maybach limousine.
Kim is believed to be a car enthusiast and has been seen driving several luxury cars, including various models of Mercedes, a Lexus sport utility vehicle, and a Rolls-Royce Phantom.
These vehicles fall under the category of luxury goods, which are prohibited from being exported to North Korea by United Nations member states, and are believed to have been smuggled.
Daimler, the German automaker that makes the Maybach, said it has no idea how the Maybach or other Mercedes cars ended up in North Korea and has no formal business with North Korea.
North Korea’s automobile industry is weak, with only a few domestic brands producing sedans and passenger buses. The most famous is Heiwa Motors, which was established as a joint venture with investment from a South Korean company of the same name.
In 2018, then-U.S. President Donald Trump allowed Kim to peek inside the presidential limousine, known as “The Beast,” during a break from their first summit in Singapore.
At that time, Kim was unable to board.
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