We heard this morning that North Korean leader Kim Jong-un is on his way to Vladivostok for his summit with Russian President Vladimir Putin. And a few hours ago, we were told that Kim crossed the North Korea-Russia border.
For more, let's connect to our Lee Ji-won who is on the phone for us.
Ji-won give us the details.
Ji-yoon, North Korean leader Kim Jong-un's armored train, which departed early this morning,... crossed Russia's border at around 10-30 a.m. local time.
That's according to the Russian International News Agency, which cited local officials saying that the train crossed the Tumen river and pulled over at the Khasan station near the border.
Kim is said to have made a quick appearance there where he was given flowers along with 'loaf and salt' which are traditionally given to special guests in Russia.
Russia's TASS News Agency cited a local lawmaker to report that Kim is expected to have looked around the museum "Kim Il-sung's House", which was built near the station in 1986, honoring Kim Jong-un's late grandfather Kim Il-sung's visit to the Soviet Union.
The report added, that the train is then to travel further northeast to Ussuriysk, which is a roughly 7-hour journey. From there, the train is to go 70 kilometers south for another 2 hours to finally arrive in Vladivostok.
Now, according to local reports, Kim's expected arrival time in Vladivostok is between 4 and 5 p.m. today,... which would be 3-to-4 p.m. for us here in Korea.
Ji-won we also hear that the schedule for Kim-Putin summit has finally been released?
Yes Ji-yoon. The Kremlin's presidential aide ( )Yuri Ushakov told reporters Tuesday, that the summit will be held in Vladivostok on Thursday.
Their meeting will start with a one-on-one sitdown, followed by an expanded talk between the respective delegations,... which will not result in the leaders signing any agreements or making a joint statement.
Ushakov also said the discussions on the political and diplomatic solution regarding the denuclearization of the Korean Peninsula would be the main focus of their meeting.
Now, while the specific venue has not yet been disclosed, various reports suggest the first Pyeongyang-Moscow summit in eight years will take place at the Far Eastern Federal University, located on Russky island off the coast of Vladivostok.
Before and after the summit, we are also expecting Kim to tour around places that his father had visited 8 years ago... and possibly visit the world-renowned Mariinsky Theatre, a public aquarium and Russia's Pacific Fleet headquarters before heading back home on Friday.
Back to you Ji-yoon.