Leader Kim Jong-un departs by train to Russia

North Korean state news agency KCNA said leader Kim Jong-un boarded a train early this morning to Russia to attend his first summit with Russian President Vladimir Putin, but did not specify his departure and destination.

The Kremlin had previously announced that the meeting would be held on April 25 in Vladivostok. If departing from Pyongyang, it could take at least 20 hours to reach the Far Eastern city.

Kim's train is believed to be traveling along a railway bridge connecting the northeastern North Korean city of Rason with the Russian border city of Kazan. Russian media reported that the North Korean leader will arrive in Vladivostok tonight and stay until April 26.

KCNA did not mention whether First Lady Ri Sol-ju accompanied Mr Kim. Foreign Minister Ri Yong-ho and Vice Foreign Minister Choe Son-hui were among the officials accompanying the North Korean leader.

The summit will be the first between the leaders of the two countries in eight years, since Kim Jong-il, Kim Jong-un's father, met Russian Prime Minister Dmitry Medvedev in 2011, when Medvedev was president. It will also mark Kim's first foreign trip since the second US-North Korea summit in Hanoi in February, where the two sides failed to reach an agreement.

The Kremlin said the summit would focus on denuclearization of the Korean peninsula. However, observers said the Russian and North Korean leaders could discuss expanding economic cooperation between the two countries.