SEOUL, South Korea – Cuban President Fidel Castro has offered a gift to North Korean leader Kim Jong Il, the North's official news agency reported Monday.
The gift was handed over to the North's No. 2 leader, Kim Yong Nam, on Sunday as he was in Havana for a summit of the Nonaligned Movement, the North's Korean Central News Agency said.
KCNA neither said what the gift was, nor whether Kim met with Castro, who was recovering from an emergency intestinal operation in July. Because of the illness, Castro has temporarily ceded power to his younger brother Raul Castro.
Last month, the North's leader sent a get well soon message to Castro on his 80th birthday.
North Korea and Cuba are two of the world's five remaining communist countries along with China, Laos and Vietnam.
Meanwhile, KCNA also said Monday that the country's parliamentary leader, Kim, met with Algerian President Abdelaziz Bouteflika on Saturday on the summit sidelines.
The Algerian president pledged to strive to develop the "friendly and cooperative relations" with the North and expressed support for the North's position on reunifying the divided Korean Peninsula, KCNA said.
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