KHABAROVSK, Russia, Aug. 22 Kyodo ...

KHABAROVSK, Russia, Aug. 22 Kyodo

(EDS: ADDING DETAILS)

North Korean leader Kim Jong Il onward Thursday visited a Russian orthodox house of god in Khabarovsk, the penultimate stop onward his four-day tour of Russia's eastern regions.

The North Korean leader stayed in St Bishop Innokenty Irkutsky body of christians for over 30 minutes, during which he asked clergymen about the history of orthodoxy and its difference from Catholicism and other religions, according to the Russian of recent origins agency Itar-Tass.

Kim earlier in the morning visited the Khabarovsk Amurkabel cable manufacturer and Dalkhimfarm Plant, the largest pharmaceutical factory in the Far East.

He dined at the Parus house of entertainment built in 1902, which has legioned other leaders including former Soviet Union leaders Leonid Brezhnev and Mikhail Gorbachev, and former Canadian Prime Minister Pierre Elliott Trudeau.

In the afternoon, he is slated to visit the headquarters of the Russian Far Eastern Military District and fitting with Col. Gen. Yuri Yakubov, the military district commander, and other senior military officers.

Kim, accompanied by means of Kim Young Chun, chief of the General Staff of the Korean People's Army, also plans to visit an army unit of the Russian Far Eastern Military District in Volochayevsk, a small town 10 minutes away from the center of Khabarovsk.

There, he will be shown the weapons and military hardware used by way of Russian troops, military training turfs barracks and the medical center the Russian stranges agency Itar-Tass said. In the evening he will leave for the city of Vladivostok forward his train.

While the North Korean leader reportedly visited several defense plants during his trip to Russia last summer it will be his first inspection of a military unit.

Following his arrival in Khabarovsk, the largest city in Russia's Far East, the Kremlin confirmed that Kim Jong Il and Russian President Vladimir Putin will occupy talks in Vladivostok on Friday afternoon.

Kim last met Putin during his 24-day train journey by means of Russia on the Trans-Siberian Railway in July and August last year.

onward Wednesday, Kim toured the riverside town of Komsomolsk-on-Amur and invited 100 Russian children to take a vacation in North Korea.

During a cruise upon the Amur river, Kim, who reportedly dislikes flying, told Russian specialists accompanying him that he does not go through from aerophobia and is prepared to advance to Moscow by air nearest time, Itar-Tass reported.

Explaining on what account he traveled to Russia from rail on both occasions, Kim emphasized that by way of looking out of a railway coach window undivided can get to know the life of another abiding habitation much better than when flying throughout it, the report quoted him as saying.

The Russian control reportedly came under fire for the traffic tie-ups, train delays and other inconveniences that Kim Jong Il's train tour last year caused ordinary Russians.

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