Tbilisi:

Laughing and joking, Russian President Vladimir Putin and North Korean leader Kim Jong-un cruised around Pyongyang last week in a Russian-made Aurus limousine to showcase their strengthened anti-Western alliance.

The luxury sedan was intended to epitomize Russia’s domestic prowess and reduce dependence on imported technology and goods when unveiled in 2018.

But customs records show that the company that builds it uses millions of dollars in imported parts, many arriving in Russia from what Kim has described as his country’s “primary foe”, South Korea.

The imports point to Russia’s ongoing reliance on Western technology as it seeks to navigate Western attempts to cut it off from global supply chains as punishment for its invasion of Ukraine.

The two leaders took turns driving the armoured limousine during Putin’s pomp-filled visit, his first in nearly a quarter of a century to North Korea, in a demonstration of the two nuclear powers’ increasingly close ties.

Russia imported equipment and components worth at least $34 million between 2018 and 2023 for assembling Aurus cars and motorcycles, customs records seen by Reuters showed. Reuters does not have access to more recent data.

The imports included car body parts, sensors, programmable controllers, switches, welding equipment, and other components worth almost $15.5 million imported from South Korea. Parts were also imported from China, India, Turkey, Italy, and other EU countries.

Foreign supplies for Aurus kept coming after Russia’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine, with goods worth almost $16 million, including $5 million produced in South Korea, imported since February 2022, the records showed.

Reuters could not determine specifically which imported foreign parts ended up in the car gifted to Kim, and the imports were not in breach of sanctions – Aurus LLC was sanctioned by the United States in February 2024.

The Aurus sedan was developed by Russian state-owned research institute NAMI in partnership with Russian carmaker Sollers, which has since sold its stake.

Aurus Motors and its CEO Andrey Pankov did not respond to Reuters’ requests for comment on the use of foreign parts, including from South Korea, in its vehicles.

Growing Production

The company launched official production in Russia’s Tatarstan region, around 1,000 km (620 miles) from Moscow, in 2021 – before then it was made on a small, experimental scale at NAMI. It will start additional production in St Petersburg later this year at Toyota’s former factory.

Toyota is one of many foreign carmakers to exit the Russian market since the invasion, which Russia calls a “special military operation”.

The exodus has left a gap that Chinese producers have been quick to fill, rapidly seizing more than half the market share and exposing Russia’s limited domestic production capacity.

South Korean firms were among the largest suppliers to Aurus, including industrial equipment producer Kyungki Industrial Co, car body parts manufacturer BYT CO LTD, and batteries supplier Enertech International Inc.

Italian plastic parts producer Industrie Ilpea Spa and Hong Kong company Rain Electronics also supplied goods.

An official at Kyungki Industrial Co confirmed that the company has supplied parts to Aurus LLC and continues to do so. The company is not concerned about any potential sanctions, the official said, declining to give further details.

Rain Electronics could not be reached for comment. When a Reuters correspondent visited the address listed on the internet as the company’s office in Hong Kong, there was no trace of Rain Electronics on the floor listed online or in the office building.

BYT CO LTD, Enertech International, and Industrie Ilpea Spa did not respond to Reuters’ requests for comment.

The Aurus Senat, retro-styled after the Soviet-era ZIL limousine, is Russia’s official presidential car and was used by Putin at his presidential inaugurations in 2018 and 2024.

Putin has now given Kim, believed to be a keen automobile fan, two Aurus cars, first during Kim’s visit to Russia in February, and a slightly different model in North Korea in June.

Prices for Aurus cars – there are four models including an SUV and an armoured version – start from 46.625 million roubles ($528,356). Customers include Turkmenistan President Serdar Berdymukhamedov.

Aurus sold 107 cars in Russia in 2023, according to data from Russian analytical agency Autostat. Aurus does not disclose production numbers.

(Except for the headline, this story has not been edited by NDTV staff and is published from a syndicated feed.)

Seoul:

Russian President Vladimir Putin will travel to North Korea on Tuesday to meet with leader Kim Jong Un in a high-profile visit that will showcase their deepening ties.

AFP takes a look at what we know:

Why are North Korea and Russia friends?

When it was founded in the aftermath of the Second World War, North Korea became close to the Soviet Union.

The USSR’s collapse in 1991 left North Korea without a key benefactor, which helped trigger a widespread famine later that decade.

In 2000, shortly after he became president, Putin sought to renew ties, visiting Pyongyang to meet Kim’s father, then-leader Kim Jong Il — becoming the first Russian leader to do so.

Still, in the mid-2000s, as a permanent member of the UN Security Council, Russia supported UN sanctions on North Korea over its nuclear programme.

When Kim Jong Un took over from his father in 2011, he initially tried to strike a balance between Russia and North Korea’s other key historic ally, China.

But Russia and North Korea have since drawn closer, with Moscow forgiving most of its ally’s debt in 2012, and Kim travelling to Vladivostok near the border in 2019 to meet Putin.

Why visit now?

Since Russia’s invasion of Ukraine in 2022, Moscow has become increasingly isolated, and is looking for friends, experts say.

Last year, Kim made a rare overseas trip on his bulletproof train to meet Putin at a Russian spaceport.

South Korea, the United States and Ukraine claimed North Korea was shipping weapons to Russia for use in its war in Ukraine, violating rafts of UN sanctions, in return for technical help with its nascent satellite programme.

North Korea has denied this, calling the claim “absurd” — even as it thanked Russia for using its UN veto in March to effectively end monitoring of sanctions violations, just as the UN experts were starting to probe alleged arms transfers.

Kim has also ramped up weapons testing, including a flurry of launches this year of cruise missiles, which analysts said North Korea could be supplying to Russia for use in Ukraine.

“During the Cold War, North Korea was always in a position to ask Russia for military and economic assistance,” Cheong Seong-chang, of the Seoul-based Sejong Institute, told AFP.

The two countries are “cooperating equally” for the first time, said Cheong, adding it was something of a “honeymoon period” for them.

What’s in it for Kim?

For Kim “this visit is a victory”, said Leif-Eric Easley, a professor at Ewha University in Seoul.

A summit with Putin will both “upgrade” North Korea’s status internationally and “bolster Kim’s domestic legitimacy”, he said, adding that while Russia could not replace China economically, it showed that “Pyongyang has options”.

Kim is expected to greet Putin in person at Pyongyang Sunan International Airport, likely accompanied by Kim Yo Jong, his powerful sister, and his teenage daughter Kim Ju Ae — who many experts speculate could be North Korea’s next ruler.

South Korean news agency Yonhap said that satellite images showed possible signs of a “large structure” being installed in Pyongyang’s Kim Il Sung Square — potentially indicating preparations for a major event or parade were under way.

And the outcomes?

Citing a Kremlin aide, Russian agencies said Monday the two leaders will sign “important documents” during the visit.

This may include a “comprehensive strategic partnership treaty” which will outline future co-operation and deal with “security issues”, Kremlin aide Yuri Ushakov was quoted as saying by state-run Russian news agencies.

“North Korea is placing its highest priority on relations with Russia and Russia is reciprocating,” the Sejong Institute’s Cheong said.

“It is expected that cooperation between the two countries in the military and economic sectors will expand.”

What’s next?

Ahead of the visit, North Korea has not conducted any major weapons tests — or floated trash-filled balloons into South Korea in revenge for similar missives sent northwards by activists, as it has in recent days.

But the calm will not last long, Cheong said.

Emboldened by Putin’s visit, Kim is likely to “switch to a hard-line mode against the South after Putin leaves”.

Experts have said that during Putin’s visit, North Korea will likely push to export more war materials for use in Ukraine, in exchange for importing food and energy from Russia.

“For now at least, Putin’s war in Ukraine sets up an ‘axis of transactionalism’ among sanctions violators looking to trade yesterday’s weapons for today’s military technology,” Ewha University’s Easley said.

(Except for the headline, this story has not been edited by NDTV staff and is published from a syndicated feed.)

Moscow:

North Korean leader Kim Jong Un received five explosive drones, a reconnaissance drone and a bulletproof vest as gifts from a regional governor on his visit to Russia, official TASS news agency said Sunday. Kim’s first official visit abroad since the coronavirus pandemic has fanned Western fears that Moscow and Pyongyang will defy sanctions and strike an arms deal. 

On Saturday he met the Russian defence minister in Vladivostok, where he inspected state-of-the-art weapons including a hypersonic missile system.

TASS said the “leader of the DPRK received five kamikaze drones and a ‘Geran-25’ reconnaissance drone with vertical takeoff”, using the official name of North Korea.

TASS said the governor of the Primorye region, which borders China and North Korea, also “offered Kim Jong Un a set of bulletproof protection” and “special clothing not detectable by thermal cameras”.

Kim’s extended tour of Russia’s far eastern region, which began on Tuesday, has focused extensively on military matters, as evidenced by his own officer-dominated entourage, a symbolic exchange of rifles with President Vladimir Putin and a tour of a fighter jet factory in Komsomolsk-on-Amur.

Moscow is believed to be interested in buying North Korean ammunition to continue fighting in Ukraine, while Pyongyang wants Russia’s help to develop its internationally condemned missile programme. 

The Kremlin has said no agreement has or will be signed.

Kim also met with North Korean students studying in Vladivostok on Sunday.

North Korean news agency KCNA has described the atmosphere during Kim’s visit as “fervent and warm” and said a “new era of friendship, solidarity and cooperation” was opening between North Korea and Russia.

(Except for the headline, this story has not been edited by NDTV staff and is published from a syndicated feed.)

Moscow:

Russian President Vladimir Putin invited North Korean leader Kim Jong Un to check out his Russian-made limousine on Wednesday ahead of their summit, ceding the spacious back seat to his guest.

Putin and Kim on Wednesday inspected the space launch facilities of the modern Vostochny Cosmodrome in the Russian Far East ahead of their summit, according to state television footage.

As they strolled to the main complex engaged in casual conversation, they came to Putin’s presidential Aurus limousine parked in the driveway, and the Russian president gestured to the vehicle as Kim stood seemingly curious.

Putin invited Kim to climb into the back seat and walked around to slide in next to the North Korean leader, who sat beaming.

North Korea’s KCNA news agency said on Thursday “Putin showed his private car to Kim Jong Un before having a warm talk”.

The Aurus Senat limousine was developed by the Russian state automotive institute known by its acronym NAMI.

Putin drove in the Aurus for the first time at his fourth inauguration in 2018, ditching his old stretch Mercedes in a patriotic message of self sufficiency.

Kim drove to the space station on Wednesday in his personal Maybach limousine, brought onboard the special train he travelled in from Pyongyang with a large entourage.

Kim is believed to be an automobile enthusiast, having been seen in several luxury cars, including different Mercedes models, a Lexus sports utility vehicle and a Rolls-Royce Phantom.

Those vehicles fall under luxury goods that U.N. member countries are banned from exporting to North Korea and are believed to have been smuggled in.

German manufacturer Daimler, which makes the Maybach, has said it had no idea how the vehicle and other Mercedes cars have been taken into the North and that it had no formal dealings with Pyongyang.

North Korea has a feeble auto industry with a handful of home-grown brands that build sedans and passenger buses. The most prominent is Pyeonghwa Motors, founded as a joint venture with investment from the South Korean company of the same name.

In 2018, then U.S. President Donald Trump allowed Kim a peek inside the U.S. presidential limousine known as “The Beast” during a break in their first summit in Singapore.

That time Kim did not get to climb in.

(Except for the headline, this story has not been edited by NDTV staff and is published from a syndicated feed.)