North Korea's Kim Gives Pair of Dogs to Putin

This picture taken on June 19, 2024 and released on June 20, 2024 from North Korea's official Korean Central News Agency (KCNA) via KNS shows North Korea's leader Kim Jong Un (R) presenting Russia's President Vladimir Putin (L) with a pair of dogs in the garden of the Kumsusan State Guesthouse in Pyongyang. (Photo by KCNA VIA KNS / AFP)
This picture taken on June 19, 2024 and released on June 20, 2024 from North Korea's official Korean Central News Agency (KCNA) via KNS shows North Korea's leader Kim Jong Un (R) presenting Russia's President Vladimir Putin (L) with a pair of dogs in the garden of the Kumsusan State Guesthouse in Pyongyang. (Photo by KCNA VIA KNS / AFP)
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North Korea's Kim Gives Pair of Dogs to Putin

This picture taken on June 19, 2024 and released on June 20, 2024 from North Korea's official Korean Central News Agency (KCNA) via KNS shows North Korea's leader Kim Jong Un (R) presenting Russia's President Vladimir Putin (L) with a pair of dogs in the garden of the Kumsusan State Guesthouse in Pyongyang. (Photo by KCNA VIA KNS / AFP)
This picture taken on June 19, 2024 and released on June 20, 2024 from North Korea's official Korean Central News Agency (KCNA) via KNS shows North Korea's leader Kim Jong Un (R) presenting Russia's President Vladimir Putin (L) with a pair of dogs in the garden of the Kumsusan State Guesthouse in Pyongyang. (Photo by KCNA VIA KNS / AFP)

North Korean leader Kim Jong Un gave Russian President Vladimir Putin a pair of Pungsan dogs, a local breed, state media KCNA reported on Thursday.
Kim and Putin were seen looking at the dogs, who were tied to a rose-covered fence, during a segment aired on the state-controlled Korean Central Television on Thursday, Reuters reported.
The two bonded over animals as Kim fed carrots to a horse while Putin patted it on its head. They also took turns driving each other around in a Russian-built Aurus limousine on Wednesday.
Kim, a horseman, was famously pictured riding a white stallion in Mount Paektu during snowfall in photos released by state media in 2019.
He was seen riding a white horse again in a propaganda video in 2022.
Pungsans are a breed of hunting dogs native to a region in northern North Korea.
Former South Korean president Moon Jae-in also received a pair of white Pungsans - named "Gomi" and "Songgang" - from Kim in 2018 during a breakthrough in inter-Korean relations.
In 2022, a freight train carrying 30 grey thoroughbred horses heading to North Korea departed Russia's far east through the Khasan-Tumangan crossing, according to Russia's veterinary service, in what appeared to be the first reported train shipment between the two countries post-pandemic.



Concern as Orangutan Seen Roaming Indonesia Coal Site

This screen grab taken from video released by Ahmad Baihaqi shows a critically endangered orangutan walking in a coal mine in Borneo's East Kutai regency of East Kalimantan province on January 27, 2025. (Photo by Ahmad Baihaqi / AFP)
This screen grab taken from video released by Ahmad Baihaqi shows a critically endangered orangutan walking in a coal mine in Borneo's East Kutai regency of East Kalimantan province on January 27, 2025. (Photo by Ahmad Baihaqi / AFP)
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Concern as Orangutan Seen Roaming Indonesia Coal Site

This screen grab taken from video released by Ahmad Baihaqi shows a critically endangered orangutan walking in a coal mine in Borneo's East Kutai regency of East Kalimantan province on January 27, 2025. (Photo by Ahmad Baihaqi / AFP)
This screen grab taken from video released by Ahmad Baihaqi shows a critically endangered orangutan walking in a coal mine in Borneo's East Kutai regency of East Kalimantan province on January 27, 2025. (Photo by Ahmad Baihaqi / AFP)

Footage of a seemingly confused orangutan roaming the desolate site of an Indonesian coal mine, meters from excavators, has sparked renewed concern about the future of the critically endangered species.

The images, taken last month by a local resident and verified by AFP, are from the same province on Borneo island where Indonesia is building its new capital, a project environmentalists fear will endanger animal habitats in Asia's last great rainforest.

Indonesia has one of the world's highest deforestation rates, with commodities mining a key driver, but it is also one of only two places in the world where orangutans are still found, along with Malaysia.

The footage, which went viral on Indonesian social media, shows the male orangutan roaming across a chasm of sand streaked with white and black rocks, dug into land still surrounded by vegetation.

"Humans are sometimes too greedy. I hope God won't punish us," read one comment on the video, which racked up tens of thousands of views across YouTube and TikTok.

Locals standing on a bluff overlooking the site filmed the creature as it meandered metres from a digger that was seemingly oblivious to its presence.

Ahmad Baihaqi, who filmed the images, said a group of locals had been watching activity at the mine site when they spotted the primate.

"I felt bad because he looked so confused," the 22-year-old driver told AFP.

"He was alone and looked lost, he didn't know where to go because the forest was disappearing."

The sighting took place in East Kalimantan, where Indonesia is building its multi-billion-dollar capital city Nusantara at breakneck speed.

- Habitat disturbed -

Although the coal mine is a nine-hour drive from the construction site, the images renewed doubts about government claims that economic activity in the province is not affecting endangered animals.

Local environmentalist Mappaselle of the Balikpapan Coastal Working Group, who like many Indonesians uses one name, said the footage was clear evidence of that impact.

The orangutan sighting "was definitely because their habitat has been disturbed and is getting smaller," he said.

"Our endangered wildlife could go extinct," he warned.

"It's a natural wealth from God to us on Earth. If wildlife goes extinct, humans have failed in our job to protect nature."

All three species of orangutan are considered critically endangered, though estimates of the number left in the wild vary considerably.

Ari Wibawanto, head of the local conservation agency which sits under Indonesia's environment ministry, told AFP its officials had located the 15-year-old wild orangutan and moved it to a protected forest area after the footage surfaced.

But he argued that it was natural for male orangutans to roam around.