By Hyunsu Yim
SEOUL (Reuters) – North Korean leader Kim Jong Un gave the Russian president Vladimir Putin a pair of Pungsan dogs, a local breed, state media KCNA reported on Thursday.
Kim and Putin were seen looking at the dogs, who were tied to a rose-covered fence, during a segment broadcast on state-controlled Korean Central Television on Thursday.
The two bonded over animals as Kim fed carrots to a horse while Putin patted its head. They also took turns driving a Russian-made Aurus limousine on Wednesday.
Kim, a horseman, was photographed riding a white stallion on Mount Paektu during a blizzard in photos released by state media in 2019, flooding the internet with memes.
He was seen riding a white horse again in a propaganda video in 2021.
The horses Kim rode are symbolic for North Korea, which named its economic effort to recover from the 1950-53 Korean War after the mythical winged horse Chollima. The country’s latest booster rocket is also called Chollima-1.
Putin, who values his sporty image, was also pictured shirtless several times in photos released by Russian state media, including one in which he rode a brown horse while wearing sunglasses, a gold chain and military pants.
Pungsans are a breed of hunting dog native to a region in northern North Korea.
Former South Korean President Moon Jae-in also received two white Pungsans – named “Gomi” and “Songgang” – from Kim in 2018 during a breakthrough in inter-Korean relations.
In 2022, a freight train carrying 30 gray thoroughbred horses bound for North Korea departed Russia’s far east via the Khasan-Tumangan crossing, according to the Russian veterinary service, in what appeared to be the first convoy shipment reported between the two countries post-pandemic.
(Reporting by Hyunsu Yim and Hyun Young Yi. Editing by Gerry Doyle)
