Vladimir Putin gave Kim Jong-un a luxury Russian Aurus limousine as a gift because the North Korean leader liked the car when the Russian president showed it to him last year, the Kremlin said on Tuesday. When Kim visited eastern Russia in September, Putin showed Kim one of the black armoured limousines that he uses. Kim sat beside Putin in the car at the Vostochny cosmodrome and appeared to enjoy it. “When the head of the DPRK [North Korea] was at the Vostochny cosmodrome, he looked at this car, Putin showed it to him personally, and like many people, Kim liked this car,” the Kremlin spokesperson Dmitry Peskov said when asked about the gift. “So this decision was made,” Peskov said. “North Korea is our neighbour, our close neighbour, and we intend, and will continue, to develop our relations with all neighbours, including North Korea.” Russia has stepped up ties with North Korea and other countries hostile to the US, such as Iran, since the start of the war with Ukraine – relations that are a source of concern to the west. The US has accused North Korea of supplying Russia with artillery shells and missiles used in Ukraine. Moscow and Pyongyang deny the US accusations but vowed last year to deepen military relations. The Russian-made limousine was delivered to Kim’s top aides by the Russian side on Sunday, North Korea’s official KCNA news agency said. Kim’s sister “courteously conveyed Kim Jong-un’s thanks to Putin to the Russian side, saying that the gift serves as a clear demonstration of the special personal relations between the top leaders”, KCNA reported. South Korea’s foreign ministry said it was closely monitoring the cooperation between Russia and North Korea while urging both countries to comply with UN security council resolutions. “Security council sanctions on North Korea prohibit directly or indirectly supplying, selling or moving all transportation vehicles internationally categorised as HS code 86 through to 89, regardless of their origin, to North Korea, including luxury cars,” a ministry spokesperson, Lim Soo-suk, told a media briefing. According to the carmaker’s website, the car is Russia’s first full-size luxury sedan. It is also Putin’s presidential car. For Kim’s visit to the Vostochny cosmodrome, Kim himself drove to the site in a Maybach limousine brought onboard a special train he had travelled in from Pyongyang. Kim is believed to be an avid automobile enthusiast and has a large collection of luxury foreign vehicles, which are probably smuggled in. The Maybach and others he has been seen in, including several Mercedes limousines, a Rolls-Royce Phantom and a Lexus sports utility vehicle, fall under the category of luxury goods that UN security council resolutions ban from export to North Korea. On Tuesday, KCNA separately reported that a delegation of North Korean ruling party officials had returned from Russia and three delegations, representing information technology, fisheries and sports, had departed for Russia.