North Korea received its latest benefit for sending thousands of troops into Russia to participate in its invasion of Ukraine — a planeload of exotic animals.
Russian President Vladimir Putin sent a variety of species to North Korean Supreme Leader Kim Jong Un this week, delivered by the Russian Ministry of Natural Resources.
“Animals have historically played an important role in international relations, serving as symbols of support, kindness, and care,” said Natural Resources Minister Alexander Kozlov, according to a translation from the Moscow Times.
The animals gifted by the Kremlin include lions, bears, pheasants, cockatoos, yaks, and ducks.
The animals will be transferred to the Korea Central Zoo in Pyongyang, which was built in the 1950s by North Korean founder Kim Il Sung, Kim Jong Un’s grandfather.
The zoo offers a wide variety of exhibits for the North Korean elite, collected during rare diplomatic exchanges with possible allies throughout the decades.
International regulators have routinely condemned Korea Central Zoo for its bizarre and highly questionable treatment of animals.
Among its most famous residents is Dallae, a chimpanzee who has been taught to smoke cigarettes, reportedly developing a pack-a-day habit.
It’s the fourth animal exchange between Russia and North Korea this year. In April, Putin sent over specimens such as eagles and pythons, followed by an August gift of animals that included otters and horses.
In June, Kim Jong Un gifted the Russian president a pair of Pungsan hunting dogs during a state visit to sign the two countries’ mutual defense pact.
That pact has already been put into effect as approximately 10,000 North Korean soldiers garrison in Russia near the Ukrainian-occupied Kursk region to support the invasion.
Through its unprecedented alliance with Russia, the Kim regime is enjoying a heap of benefits long denied them by international embargoes and diplomatic sanctions.
Putin has loaded the supreme leader with personal gifts in recent months, including an Aurus limousine, a tea set, and a ceremonial officer’s dagger called a dirk.
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More concerning than the import of luxury vehicles and exotic animals is the suspected sharing of weapons technology with the Korean People’s Army, which would augment the regime’s increasing nuclear capabilities.
North Korea has also furnished the exhausted Russian military with artillery and other conventional weapons for use in Ukraine.