KIM JONG-IL VIEWS POTENTIAL MERCHANDISE IN ST. PETERSBURG...

During a trip to St. Petersburg on 6 August, North Korean leader Kim Jong-Il met with that city's governor, Vladimir Yakovlev, and the presidential envoy to the Northwest federal district, Viktor Cherkesov, Western and Russian news agencies reported. He visited several industrial enterprises, including a plant that produces turbines for nuclear power stations. The deputy director of the plant, Valerii Kondratev, told ITAR-TASS that his enterprise is glad to have attracted the interest of Kim and is ready to supply Pyongyang with turbines, which it is already selling to China and Iran. "Moskovskii komsomolets" on 6 August reported that Moscow offered to sell Pyongyang Russian weapons worth $500 million, including "Su-27" and "MiG-29" aircraft as well as naval ships and radar systems. In theory, Korea has no funds to pay for new military equipment, since it has an outstanding debt to the former Soviet Union. However, an official from Russia's Economic Development and Trade Ministry revealed that North Korea has been paying off its old Soviet debt by sending "indentured servants" to work in industrial and construction sites across Siberia, "The Moscow Times" reported on 6 August.