North Korea's ruler Kim Jong Un returns with gifts from Russia

On Monday, North Korean leader Kim Jong Un will return home, possibly with gifts from his Russian hosts that include a gun, a cosmonaut’s glove, and military drones—all of which would violate UN sanctions on their own.

The objects he is returning to the “friendship” museum, which houses presents received by the North’s three generations of leaders, are listed below.

Kim was given a weapon “of the highest quality” after his meeting with Russian President Putin, according to Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov. Putin received a gun “made by North Korean craftsmen” as a return gift from Kim.

Putin also displayed a glove taken from a spacesuit, according to Russian news agency TASS.

According to Russian media, Oleg Kozhemyako, the governor of the Primorsky area, gave Kim a set of contemporary, lightweight body armour made for assault operations that shields the chest, shoulders, throat, and groyne.

A Geranium-25 reconnaissance drone and five one-way assault drones, all of which are commonly employed in the conflict in Ukraine, were also sent to Kim, according to TASS.

That contravenes at least two U.N. Security Council resolutions against the North that were put in place because of its outlawed missile and nuclear programmes and which Moscow supported.

In Vladivostok, where he viewed Russian nuclear bombers, fighter jets armed with hypersonic missiles, and a vessel, Kim was presented with a fur cap by Defence Minister Sergei Shoigu.

There had been a scramble to determine the right size of the hat, Russia’s RIA news agency reported. Russia’s ambassador to Pyongyang, Alexander Matsegora, suggested a size slightly smaller than his own “very large head”, which turned out to be just right.

“It’s also important that this is a gift from the heart. And Comrade Kim Jong Un liked it,” Matsegora said.

Kim began his visit with a stop in Russia’s border town of Khasan, where he was presented with a photo of Yuri Gagarin, the cosmonaut who was the first human to orbit the Earth.

The presents that Kim, his father, Kim Jong-il, and grandfather, state founder Kim Il Sung, received from foreign dignitaries are being prominently displayed by North Korea, which has dedicated a special museum for them.

The International Friendship Exhibition is a pair of massive concrete buildings with blue tiled roofs that are located in the hills of the Myohyangsan mountain 160 kilometres (99 miles) from Pyongyang.

According to the state media in the North, the museum was established in 1978 and contains more than 100 showrooms with more than 115,000 artefacts from more than 200 nations.

The scale and importance of the collection make it comparable to the Louvre in Paris, North Korea’s state media have said.

The collection includes crystalware sent by the late Cuban leader Fidel Castro, a tea set from the late French president Francois Mitterrand, a basketball signed by Michael Jordan that the late American secretary of state Madeleine Albright gave away, and a rifle from the late French president Jimmy Carter.

The large-screen television from former president Kim Dae-jung, who engaged Pyongyang with peace policies, receives prominent showing. Propaganda is a major factor in how gifts from South Koreans are shown.

Chung Ju-yung, the founder of the Hyundai Group and a native of North Korea, gave Kim Jong Il the Dynasty sedan as a present. Chung Ju-yung was the driving force behind investment in the North following the 2000 inter-Korean summit.

(With agency inputs)