Kim Jongun has a new set of wheels, courtesy of Vladimir Putin. The Russian leader gifted Kim the luxury Russian made Auris as a sign of their special relations. Kim had first admired Putin's car when the two met in Russia in September. The gift coming as North Korea has opened up its door to tourists for the first time since the pandemic, but only Russians. Will Ripley spoke to two of them.

After years of near total isolation, North Korea is rolling out the red carpet for Russian visitors. This group of 100 believe to be the first post-pandemic tourists. Visiting Kim Jong Un's hermetically sealed nation, omitted it's deepening ties with Russia. They flew from Vladivostok to Pyongya. On a vintage Russian plane operated by Air Koryo, North Korea's only airline. I've flown it more than a dozen times when Westerners were still allowed in. Diplomacy with the US collapsed in Hanoi in 2019, when observers say Kim made a strategic pivot, bolstering his nuclear arsenal, prioritizing ties with Moscow and Beijing, both protecting Kim from fallout at the United Nations for his unprecedented missile testing binge. Russia is reportedly releasing millions of dollars in frozen North Korean assets, facilitating access to international banking networks. The New York Times reports, setting the stage for a new chapter of Kim's nuclear ambitions, possibly with the help of Russian rocket scientists. This Russian tour, and perhaps more to come, is about more than sightseeing. It's about the bigger picture of international relations, Russia and North Korea strengthening ties, icing out the West. Ilya Voskrisyanski is a travel blogger from St. Petersburg. A tough job these days.

Many European nations ban Russian tourists, the result of Putin's war on Ukraine.

I signed up for this tour the moment I heard about it. It's like stepping back in time, reminiscent of the stories my grandparents told me about life in the Soviet Union. The empty streets, the lack of advertisements. It's surreal.

Eliana Bichkova is a marketing professional from Moscow. The meticulous preparations for our visit felt like being in a theater production.

But amidst the choreographed scenes, I couldn't shake the feeling that there's another side to North Korea, one that remains hidden.

Beneath the carefully controlled façade, encounters with North Korean children, revealing curiosity, genuine interest in the outside world.

Tourism is one thing, but tonight, there's growing concern about this deepening military partnership between Russia and North Korea. An investigative organization out of the UK says that North Korea is firing ballistic missiles. They analyze one of them and they said hundreds of components in that missile were made in the United States, possibly within the last three years, Brianna. At least 14 Ukrainians dead by North Korean missiles. Of course, in exchange, Vladimir Putin promised to help Kim Jong Un launch his own satellites and rockets.