Moscow - The North Korean leader, Mr Kim Jong-il, has offered to abandon his country's rocket programme if other states supply him with their rockets to explore space, the Russian President, Mr Putin said yesterday.
The surprising announcement capped the first ever trip by a Russian or Soviet leader to the Stalinist state, where Mr Putin was welcomed with dazzling pomp before two hours of talks.
Mr Putin, seen on Russia's ORT public television, said the proposal on rockets emerged "precisely because of the trusting nature of our discussions". He said Mr Kim had "voiced an idea under which North Korea is even prepared to use exclusively the rocket equipment of other countries for peaceful space research if they offer it".