SEOUL, South Korea -- North Korean leader Kim Jong Un is on his way home Sunday from Russia, ending a six-day trip that triggered global concerns about weapons transfer deals between the two countries locked in separate standoffs with the West.
Kim's armored train departed to the sound of the Russian patriotic march song "Farewell of Slavianka" at the end of a farewell ceremony at a railway station in Artyom, a far eastern Russian city about 200 kilometers (124 miles) from the border with North Korea, Russia's state news agency RIA reported.
Senior officials including Russia's Minister of Natural Resources Alexander Kozlov and Primorye regional Gov. Oleg Kozhemyako were present at the ceremony, which featured a Russian military band playing both North Korean and Russian national anthems.
It was Kim's longest foreign travel since he took power in late 2011. Observers said Kim was expected to return to Pyongyang, the North Korean capital, around Monday afternoon.
Since entering Russia last Tuesday in his first overseas trip in more than four years, Kim had met President Vladimir Putin and visited key military and technology sites, underscoring the countries' deepening defense cooperation in the face of separate, intensifying confrontations with the U.S. and its allies. Foreign officials and experts have said North Korea could provide badly needed munitions for Moscow's war on Ukraine in exchange for sophisticated Russian weapons technology that would advance Kim's nuclear ambitions.
North Korea may have tens of millions of aging artillery shells and rockets based on Soviet designs that could bolster Russian forces in Ukraine, analysts say, even though its old artillery systems have a reputation for poor accuracy. Both sides have been reportedly firing thousands of artillery rounds a day.
U.N. Security Council resolutions -- which Russia, a permanent member, previously endorsed -- ban North Korea from exporting or importing any arms. Observers say Russia's alleged attempts to receive ammunitions and artillery shells from North Korea suggest Moscow's desperation to refill its arsenal exhausted in the war with Ukraine.
"Military cooperation between North Korea and Russia is illegal and unjust as it contravenes U.N. Security Council resolutions and various other international sanctions," South Korean President Yoon Suk Yeol said in written responses Sunday to questions from The Associated Press. "The international community will unite more tightly in response to such a move."
In return for supplying conventional arms to Russia, experts say North Korea would seek Russian economic and food aid but also transfers of technologies to build powerful missiles, a nuclear-propelled submarine and a spy satellite. North Korea has publicly sought to introduce such high-tech weapons systems citing what it called intensifying U.S.-led hostilities.
Kozhemyako, the Primorye governor, said a delegation from Russia's Far East would visit North Korea. According to Russian state media, Kozhemyako said he'll be part of the delegation that will travel with specialists from trade, tourism and agricultural sectors. The exact timing for the visit to North Korea hasn't been announced.
On Saturday, Kim traveled to an airport near Vladivostok, where Defense Minister Sergei Shoigu and other senior military officials gave him an up-close look at Russia's strategic bombers and other warplanes. Kim and Shoigu later in the day went to Vladivostok, where they inspected the Admiral Shaposhnikov frigate.
On Friday, Kim visited an aircraft plant in the city of Komsomolsk-on-Amur that produces Russia's most powerful fighter jets.
North Korea's state media reported that Kim and Shoigu talked about the regional security environment and exchanged views on "practical issues arising in further strengthening the strategic and tactical coordination, cooperation and mutual exchange between the armed forces of the two countries."
Kim's summit with Putin was held at Russia's main space launch site, a location that pointed to his desire for Russian assistance in his efforts to acquire space-based reconnaissance assets and missile technologies. In recent months, two North Korean launches to send a spy satellite into space ended in failure, and the North vowed to conduct a third attempt in October.
In this photo released by Government of Primorsky Krai Region, North Korea's leader Kim Jong Un, centre, walks past honour guard soldiers prior to leaving Artyom, near Vladivostok, Russian Far East on Sunday, Sept. 17, 2023. (Government of Primorsky Krai Region via AP)
In this photo provided by the North Korean government, North Korean leader Kim Jong Un, center, gives a gift as he visits the Russian Pacific fleet in Vladivostok, the Russian Far East, on Saturday, Sept. 16, 2023. Independent journalists were not given access to cover the event depicted in this image distributed by the North Korean government. The content of this image is as provided and cannot be independently verified. Korean language watermark on image as provided by source reads: "KCNA" which is the abbreviation for Korean Central News Agency. (Korean Central News Agency/Korea News Service via AP)
FILE - This photo provided by the North Korean government shows what it says is an intercontinental ballistic missile in a launching drill at the Sunan international airport in Pyongyang, North Korea on March 16, 2023. Independent journalists were not given access to cover the event depicted in this image distributed by the North Korean government. The content of this image is as provided and cannot be independently verified. Korean language watermark on image as provided by source reads: "KCNA" which is the abbreviation for Korean Central News Agency. (Korean Central News Agency/Korea News Service via AP, File)
FILE - In this photo provided by the North Korean government, weapons are shown during a military parade to mark the 70th anniversary of the armistice that halted fighting in the 1950-53 Korean War, on Kim Il Sung Square in Pyongyang, North Korea on July 27, 2023. Independent journalists were not given access to cover the event depicted in this image distributed by the North Korean government. The content of this image is as provided and cannot be independently verified. Korean language watermark on image as provided by source reads: "KCNA" which is the abbreviation for Korean Central News Agency. (Korean Central News Agency/Korea News Service via AP, File)
In this photo provided by the North Korean government, North Korean leader Kim Jong Un, center, writes in the honor guest book at the Russian Pacific fleet in Vladivostok, the Russian Far East, on Saturday, Sept. 16, 2023. Independent journalists were not given access to cover the event depicted in this image distributed by the North Korean government. The content of this image is as provided and cannot be independently verified. Korean language watermark on image as provided by source reads: "KCNA" which is the abbreviation for Korean Central News Agency. (Korean Central News Agency/Korea News Service via AP)
In this photo provided by the North Korean government, North Korean leader Kim Jong Un, center left, visits the Admiral Shaposhnikov frigate of the Russian navy at the Russian Pacific fleet in Vladivostok, the Russian Far East, on Saturday, Sept. 16, 2023. Independent journalists were not given access to cover the event depicted in this image distributed by the North Korean government. The content of this image is as provided and cannot be independently verified. Korean language watermark on image as provided by source reads: "KCNA" which is the abbreviation for Korean Central News Agency. (Korean Central News Agency/Korea News Service via AP)
In this photo provided by the North Korean government, North Korean leader Kim Jong Un, center, visits the Admiral Shaposhnikov frigate of the Russian navy at the Russian Pacific fleet in Vladivostok, the Russian Far East, on Saturday, Sept. 16, 2023. Independent journalists were not given access to cover the event depicted in this image distributed by the North Korean government. The content of this image is as provided and cannot be independently verified. Korean language watermark on image as provided by source reads: "KCNA" which is the abbreviation for Korean Central News Agency. (Korean Central News Agency/Korea News Service via AP)
In this photo released by Government of Primorsky Krai Region, North Korea's leader Kim Jong Un waves as he boards his train prior to leaving Artyom, near Vladivostok, Russian Far East on Sunday, Sept. 17, 2023. (Government of Primorsky Krai Region via AP)
In this photo released by Government of Primorsky Krai Region, North Korea's leader Kim Jong Un waves as he boards his train prior to leaving Artyom, near Vladivostok, Russian Far East on Sunday, Sept. 17, 2023. (Government of Primorsky Krai Region via AP)