North Korea announced that the regime's leader Kim Jong-un used a car he had received as a gift from Russian President Vladimir Putin for the first time at a recent public event.

In a statement carried through the North's state-run Korean Central News Agency(KCNA) on Saturday, Kim's influential sister, Yo-jong, said she was very pleased that the supreme leader of the ruling party and the state has used the special car gifted by the Russian president.

The sister said the usage of the vehicle is proof that bilateral friendship is strengthening and developing and reaching new heights in a comprehensive way but stopped short of specifying at which event the car was used.

Last month, Pyongyang said Putin sent a Russian-made car for Kim's personal use as a gift, demonstrating a special bond between the two leaders. Russia said the car is the Aurus Senat limousine.

Providing such a gift to the North is a violation of UN Security Council resolutions that ban transfer of luxury goods to the regime, including automobiles, for which supply, sale and transfer have been prohibited since 2017.