0bama hosting Raul Castro; Putin gets “Lil Kim” and his lost planet airwomen.
Via Ohio Com
After three years of watching his fellow leaders mix and mingle while he was secluded in Pyongyang, Kim Jong Un is looking more and more likely to visit Russia in his first trip abroad since taking power in the world’s first look at the young North Korean leader at work on the international stage.
Moscow has invited many world leaders — including Kim and the presidents of China and South Korea — to celebrations marking the 70th anniversary of the Soviet Union’s victory over Nazi Germany, which will include a massive parade on Red Square.
Russian President Vladimir Putin’s foreign affairs adviser, Yuri Ushakov, said last month the Kremlin had received the “first signals from Pyongyang” the North Korean leader is planning to attend the May 9 festivities. South Korean media quoting anonymous sources in Beijing reported this week that Kim is likely to accept. U.S. President Barack Obama has reportedly decided to stay home, so that awkwardness has apparently been averted.[…]
Unlike his reclusive father, who rarely spoke in public, Kim has revived the custom started by his charismatic grandfather, North Korea’s “eternal president” Kim Il Sung, of delivering speeches on New Year’s Day. He often makes public appearances with his photogenic wife and does not seem to share his predecessors’ reported fear of flying — the state-run media recently showed him taking the controls of an airplane in flight.
Though Kim Il Sung enjoyed the strong support of the Soviet Union, its collapse in 1991 drove North Korea and China much closer. Kim Jong Il visited China seven times, always by train, including three visits between 2010 and his death in 2011.