Arjun is calculating the distance between two countries. He finds that the distance is

To convert the distance from meters to kilometers, we divide the distance in meters by 1,000.

Given:
\[
\text{Distance in meters} = 8.317 \times 10^6 \, \text{meters}
\]

To convert to kilometers:
\[
\text{Distance in kilometers} = \frac{8.317 \times 10^6 \, \text{meters}}{1000}
\]

Calculating that:
\[
\text{Distance in kilometers} = 8.317 \times 10^6 \div 10^3
\]

This simplifies to:
\[
\text{Distance in kilometers} = 8.317 \times 10^{6-3} = 8.317 \times 10^3 \, \text{kilometers}
\]

Thus, the distance in kilometers in standard form is:
\[
\boxed{8.317 \times 10^3 \, \text{kilometers}}
\]