vlad.tribnet.com / Issue #556 / Social life / Reading article...

An exhibition featuring books and photographs depicting the life of North Korean leader Kim Jong Il opened in Primorye’s town of Nakhodka on February 9 as a reminder of his upcoming 65th birthday this Friday.

Besides books and pictures, the exhibition presents handicrafts made by North Koreans in the honor of their leader. The exhibition was initiated by the N. Korean Consulate General in Nakhodka with assistance from Nakhodka’s administration, a press statement from the town’s administration reported.

The exposition opening was attended by about 100 people, including officials from administrations of Nakhodka and other Primorye towns and the N. Korean Consulate General. At the opening, the town’s mayor Oleg Kolyagin emphasized the importance of strengthening and expanding ties between Russia and N. Korea.

Last July North Korea fired seven missiles, two of which were reported to have landed in the territorial waters of Russia. One of them was reported to have splashed in dangerously close proximity to the city of Nakhodka.

Kim Jong Il, who will turn 65 on February 16, has visited Russia’s Primorye twice. In July 2001, he visited the village of Khasan to start his train journey across Russia to the city of St. Petersburg and back. In August 2002, Kim Jong Il made a trip to the Primorye and Khabarovsky regions visiting the cities of Vladivostok, Khabarovsk and the town of Komsomolsk-on-Amur.

The three-week exhibition is scheduled to last until February 20, the statement said.