News In Brief

Soviets greet Korea's Kim after long railway journey

North Korean President Kim Il Sung arrived in Moscow Wednesday after a six-day train journey across Siberia and European Russia. Prime Minister Nikolai Tikhonov, Foreign Minister Andrei Gromyko, and Defense Minister Dmitri Ustinov were on hand at the railway station to greet the veteran North Korean leader when his special train rolled in, Tass news agency reported.

Tass described Mr. Kim's trip as an ''official friendly visit'' and said he was invited by the Communist Party, the government, and the state leadership. It is Kim's first visit to the Soviet Union in nearly two decades.

Diplomats said Moscow was likely to expand economic and military assistance to Pyongyang, despite recent signs that North Korea has appeared to move closer to China. (Moscow supplies military equipment to North Korea and remains its biggest trading partner.)