MOSCOW ? The North Korean leader's armored train arrived at the Russia-China border late Thursday, and is expected to cross into Manchuria in China's northeast shortly, a Russian news agency reported.
Kim Jong Il's train was seen at the Zabaikalsk railway station a day after he met Russian President Dmitry Medvedev for talks in a Siberian city, Interfax reported.
After the meeting, Kim agreed to impose a nuclear test and production moratorium if international talks on Pyongyang's atomic program resume. He also expressed readiness to return to the discussions without preconditions, the Kremlin said.
Faced with deepening sanctions and economic woes, North Korea has pushed to restart the six-sided talks that involve both Koreas, the United States, China, Russia and Japan.
U.S. State Department spokeswoman Victoria Nuland said Kim's apparent offer was "a welcome first step" but not enough to restart the long-stalled talks meant to end the North's nuclear weapons ambitions.
Washington and Seoul have been wary of the North's repeated calls for new six-party nuclear talks, calling first for an improvement in dismal ties between the Koreas and for a sincere sign from the North that it will abide by past commitments it has made in previous rounds of talks.
North Korea is believed to have enough weaponized plutonium for at least six atomic bombs, and is believed to be working toward mounting a nuclear bomb on a long-range missile.
Russia and North Korea also moved forward this week on a proposal to build a pipeline that will ship Russian natural gas to both Koreas.
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