From the New York Times, I'm Sabrina Tavernici, and this is The Daily.

In a rare move this week, the leader of North Korea, Kim Jong-un, traveled to Russia to

meet with Russian President Vladimir Putin.

My colleague, Julian Barnes, on what Russia wants from North Korea.

How far it may go to get it?

And why the consequence could be dangerous, not just for the region, but for the world.

It's Thursday, September 14th.

So Julian, tell me about this visit by the North Korean leader to Russia.

I mean, this is, of course, an extremely isolated leader who almost never leaves North Korea,

and here, Vladimir Putin is giving him an audience and a red carpet treatment in Russia.

What's going on here?

So you're right.

Kim Jong-un almost never leaves North Korea.

They don't have a lot of allies.

He doesn't have to travel for diplomatic meetings or the like.

In fact, he hasn't left the borders of North Korea since the COVID pandemic.

Oh, wow.

But what we have here is that Kim Jong-un got on his armored train.

He does not fly like his father and grandfather before him.

He travels by train.

North Korean leader Kim Jong-un slowly rolls towards Russia in Soviet-era armored train

cars in Green.

...