All aboard: Kim Jong Il’s little armored train that could

North Korean leader Kim Jong Il traveled to Russia this week, his first visit to his country’s former Cold War ally in nine years. Kim rode an armored train to eastern Siberia to meet with Russian President Dmitry Medvedev, crossing the Russian border on Sunday, Aug. 21, touring the Bureyskaya hydroelectric power station, and meeting with Medvedev on Wednesday. Medvedev flew 3,500 miles across Russia to a Siberian military base for the meeting.

Kim promised Medvedev a moratorium on the production and testing of nuclear weapons, a move that could help restart nuclear disarmament talks, stalled in 2009. North Korea has been isolated both economically and diplomatically since March 2009, when it conducted a second nuclear weapons test. Both the United States and South Korea demand concrete action from North Korea before they return to the six-party talks.

Kim’s weeklong trip to Russia is also expected to focus on trade talks and gaining economic and political support from Russia. North Korea is facing chronic food shortages and factory closures thanks to punishing international sanctions. Russia pledged 50,000 tons of wheat to North Korea and also discussed energy and infrastructure projects, including a pipeline carrying Russian gas to South Korea through the North.

According to the Christian Science Monitor, Kim is also concerned about the downfall of Libyan leader Muammar al-Qaddafi and Middle East unrest in general. While North Korean media has not been reporting on the Arab Spring, news of the uprisings has been spread through radios and word of mouth from people who have illegally crossed into China and back. “That dynamic is probably much more alarming to Kim Jong Il than anything else,” Lee Jong-min, dean of international studies at Yonsei University in Seoul, told the Monitor. “He’s prompted by the need to bolster his power.”

Kim has visited China five times since 2002, the year of his last trip to Russia, when he met with then-President Vladimir Putin.

More photos below the jump:

Women dressed in traditional Russian costumes welcome Kim to Russia on Aug. 21.

Kim looks at the view from the Bureyskaya hydropower station on Aug. 21

Medvedev welcomes Kim to Russia.

Medvedev speaks with Kim during a meeting at a Siberian military base.

DMITRY ASTAKHOV/AFP/Getty Images;

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