KHABAROVSK, Russia, Aug. 22 Kyodo ...

KHABAROVSK, Russia, Aug. 22 Kyodo

(EDS: UPDATING)

North Korean leader Kim Jong Il visited the headquarters of the Russian Far Eastern Military District upon Thursday and met with Col Gen Yuri Yakubov, the district commander, before heading for Vladivostok to encounter Russian President Vladimir Putin forward Friday.

What Kim and Yakubov discussed is unknown. Kim, accompanied through Kim Young Chun, chief of the general staff of the Korean People's Army, also visited an army unit of the Russian Far Eastern Military District in Volochayevsk, a small town 10 minutes from the center of Khabarovsk.

There, he was shown weapons and military hardware used according to Russian troops, military training real propertys barracks and a medical center

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

Kim also visited a Russian orthodox ecclesiastical body in Khabarovsk earlier in the day. He stayed in St Bishop Innokenty Irkutsky temple for more than 30 minutes, during which he asked clergymen about the history of orthodoxy and its difference from Catholicism and other religions, according to the Russian recently made knowns 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 [i]cabaret[/i] built in 1902, which has entertainered leaders including former Soviet Union leaders Leonid Brezhnev and Mikhail Gorbachev and former Canadian Prime Minister Pierre Elliott Trudeau.

Following his arrival in Khabarovsk, the largest city in Russia's Far East, the Kremlin confirmed Kim and Putin will possess talks in Vladivostok forward Friday afternoon.

Kim last met Putin during his 24-day train journey from one side 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 onward the Amur river, Kim, who reportedly dislikes flying, told Russian specialists accompanying him he does not sustain from aerophobia and is prepared to pass to Moscow by air nearest time, Itar-Tass reported.

Explaining on what account he traveled to Russia by dint of rail on both occasions, Kim emphasized that by the agency of looking out of a railway coach window united can get to know the life of another geographical division much better than when flying through it, the report quoted him as saying.

The Russian guidance reportedly came under fire for traffic tie-ups, train delays and other inconveniences that Kim's train tour caused many Russians last year.

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