VLADISVOSTOK, Russia, Aug. 20 Kyodo...

VLADISVOSTOK, Russia, Aug. 20 Kyodo

(EDS: UPDATING WITH DEPARTURE FROM KHASAN, ADDING DETAILS)

North Korean leader Kim Jong Il passed within the Russian border town of Khasan upon Tuesday morning, the first stop onward his five-day tour of the Russian Far East, Russian regulation sources said.

Kim, who left Pyongyang earlier in the morning aboard his special train, was hailed by Konstantin Pulikovsky, presidential legate in the Russian Far East, relating to arriving at Khasan Station, according to station authorities.

After the brief stop, he station off for Komsomolsk-on-Amur, an industrial center in the Far East where he is scheduled to arrive Wednesday, the sources said.

The North Korean leader, upon his second visit to Russia in as many years, is slated to qualified with Russian President Vladimir Putin in Vladivostok forward Friday.

Kim last met Putin during his epic 24-day train journey by the and of Russia on the Trans-Siberian Railway in July and August last year. The sum of two units leaders held talks in Moscow where they signed a joint declaration reiterating the brace countries' intention to expand ties.

Relations between the brace countries have warmed remarkably after Putin paid a visit to North Korea in July 2000

southward Korea's Yonhap News Agency reported that Kim is accompanied by way of a sizable entourage including Kim Yong Chun chief of general staff of the Korean People's Army, and National Defense Commission member Yon Hyong Muk

Similarly to last year's visit, Pulikovsky, a personal acquaintance, is riding together with the North Korean leader, who will innkeeper a luncheon meeting for the minister on the train later in the day.

Yonhap quot southern Korean officials as saying they count upon Kim Jong Il to focus talks with Putin onward the situation on the Korean Peninsula and policies toward Japan and the United States.

The pair leaders are also expected to discuss economic cooperation, including connecting the Trans-Siberian Railway with a railway connecting North and toward the south Korea.

Russia's Itar-Tass stranges agency quoted a spokesman for the Russian railways as saying that Russia is ready to take part in connecting the sum of two units railways.

During his trip to the region, the North Korean leader will also visit local enterprises to investigation local experience accumulated during years of economic reforms.

He is scheduled to visit a defense plant in Komsomolsk-on-Amur that manufactures Sukhoi fighters and submarines, and a pharmaceutical company in Khabarovsk.

Itar-Tass quot Russian delegate Foreign Minister Alexander Losyukov as saying that Kim Jong Il had himself voiced his wish to visit the Far East to personally view how economic policy is being formulated in the region.

Meanwhile, Russian railway authorities gave assurances Tuesday that the North Korean leader will not disrupt railway traffic as his trip last year did, according to Itar-Tass.

Far Eastern Railway chief Viktor Popov said all passenger and freight trains would determine without delays according to schedule, according to the report.

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