MOSCOW, June 21. /TASS/. The gifts presented to Russian President Vladimir Putin during his visit to Pyongyang show the willingness to develop bilateral relations and respect for the Russian leader personally, Roman Lobov, a senior expert of the Russian Institute for Strategic Studies, told TASS.

Earlier, the North Korean news agency KCNA published photos showing the two leaders exchanging gifts. Putin gifted Kim a tea set and a naval officer’s dagger. In return, Kim Jong Un presented a pair of hunting dogs, which are of rare Pungsan breed.

"An exchange of gifts is a significant part of diplomatic ceremonial in the DPRK (the Democratic People’s Republic of Korea - TASS) and a demonstration of mutual respect," Lobov said.

The expert said that this demonstrates "that relations between our two countries are friendly or even fraternal."

Lobov described as "the main telling gesture" that Vladimir Putin was awarded North Korea’s highest state decoration - the Order of Kim Il Sung - "for great merits in developing Russian-Korean relations."

The Order of Kim Il Sung, the founder of North Korea, was established in 1972. The medal is a five-pointed star with the image of Kim Il Sung in the center. Kim Jong Un read out the joint decision of the Central Committee of the Workers’ Party of Korea, the State Affairs Commission of DPRK and the Presidium of the Supreme People’s Assembly to award the medal and himself presented it to Putin.