SEOUL, Nov. 20 (Yonhap) — Russian President Vladimir Putin has presented North Korea with more than 70 animals, including a lion and two bears, in a sign of friendship between the two nations, according to foreign media reports Wednesday.
Russia’s Natural Resources and Environment Minister Alexander Kozlov has ordered over 70 animals to be transferred from Moscow Zoo to Pyongyang Central Zoo as Putin’s gift to North Koreans, Russia’s news agency TASS said in a report, citing a press release by the ministry.
The animals include one African lion, two brown bears, two domestic yaks, five white cockatoos, 25 pheasants of various species and 40 mandarin ducks, it added.
Putin gifted North Korean leader Kim Jong-un 24 purebred horses, known to be Kim’s favorite, in August, while Kim sent Putin a pair of Pungsan dogs, a local breed, in June.
The move came as Pyongyang and Moscow have forged a closer relationship, particularly after the two sides signed a mutual defense pact earlier this year that obligates them to provide immediate military assistance if either is attacked.
The North has recently sent more than 10,000 of its troops to Russia to fight in its war against Ukraine.
This AFP photo, provided by Russia’s natural resources ministry on Nov. 20, 2024, shows a lion in its new enclosure after being transferred from Moscow Zoo to Pyongyang Zoo in Pyongyang. (PHOTO NOT FOR SALE) (Yonhap)
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