Kim bids farewell to Moscow

Kim's schedule has been subject to last-minute changes

North Korean leader Kim Jong-il has left Moscow and set off on his long train journey home at the end a five-day official visit to Russia.

Mr Kim had a brief meeting with President Vladimir Putin before departing on his 10-day return journey, although details of their discussions were not announced.

The Korean delegation toured Russian space installations on Friday

Railway traffic at Moscow's Yaroslavsky station was suspended for more than two hours to clear the way for the departure of Mr Kim's special 21-car armoured train.

The Korean leader - who is widely reported to dislike flying - is due to make a stopover in Novosibirsk on 11 August on his way back to Pyongyang.

After meetings in Moscow last week, Mr Kim's train went on to St Petersburg where he visited the Hermitage on Monday and the St Peter and Paul Cathedral, where Russian tsars are buried, on Tuesday.

He also toured several industrial enterprises in the city, including a metal-working plant and the Baltika beer brewery, but he cancelled visits to the city's Lenin Museum and to the legendary Aurora cruiser, which fired the cannon to signal the beginning of the 1917 revolution.

Steam lover

Back in Moscow, Mr Kim cancelled plans to visit Red Square, several museums and a war memorial, preferring to stay in his three-room $2,500-a-day suite at the Metropol Hotel until mid-afternoon.

Tass quoted hotel personnel as saying the reclusive leader particularly enjoyed the steam room in his suite and asked for the temperature to be raised higher than its usual 80C.

Kim has won few friends among the Russian public

After Saturday's summit, Mr Putin and Mr Kim released what correspondents called a Cold War-style manifesto pledging to renew strategic and economic ties and denouncing the US for its missile defence programme.

Despite heavy security around Mr Kim's train, Kremlin officials admitted that it nearly crashed into a concrete slab placed on the track during Tuesday's journey between St Petersburg and Moscow.

Igor Kolomeitsev, spokesman for the Kremlin envoy to the Far East, who has been accompanying Mr Kim, said the incident was a case of "hooliganism, not terrorism".

A separate locomotive has travelled ahead of Mr Kim's train throughout the trip to check for dangers.

The slab was put on the rails after the first locomotive passed but before Mr Kim's train approached, Mr Kolomeitsev said.

Mr Kim's train came to an abrupt stop when the object was sighted, rattling the passengers, the official added.