State media quoted Kim as saying upon his arrival to the Russian town of Khasan bordering China and North Korea on early Tuesday that his visit to Russia is a "clear manifestation of the stand of the WPK [Workers' Party of Korea] and the government of the DPRK [the Democratic People's Republic of Korea] prioritizing the strategic importance of the DPRK-Russia relations."
Kim arrived in Khasan on his private train at 6:00 a.m. local time on Tuesday (20:00 GMT on Monday) and was welcomed by Russian Minister of Natural Resources and Ecology Alexander Kozlov, Oleg Kozhemyako, the governor of Russia's Primorsky territory, and other senior officials, the report said.
The leader's visit to Russia marked his first foreign visit after the COVID-19 pandemic, as well as the first visit to Russia since 2019.
Kim expressed "deep thanks to the senior officials from the [Russian] capital and local areas for greeting him with enthusiastic and warm feelings of friendship at the border station" and extended his "best wishes to the president, government, army and people of the Russian Federation on behalf of the DPRK," the state media reported.
North Korea's leader also received a gift from Kozlov and left for "his destination," the report said without specifying the leader's next stop.