North Korean leader Kim Jong Un will visit Russia, both countries said on Monday, and is expected to hold a highly anticipated meeting with President Vladimir Putin, who has raised Western concerns about a potential arms deal for Moscow’s war in Ukraine. Has given birth to.
A brief statement on the Kremlin’s website said the visit was at Putin’s invitation and would take place “in the coming days.” North Korea’s official Korean Central News Agency also reported this, saying the leaders would meet – without specifying when and where.
“Respected Comrade Kim Jong Un will meet and hold talks with Comrade Putin during the visit,” it said.
Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov said delegations from the two countries would meet, but did not confirm plans for a bilateral session between Putin and Kim, saying the leaders would meet one-on-one “if necessary.”
Associated Press journalists near the North Korea-Russia border spotted a green train with yellow trim at a station on the North Korean side of a border river — similar to one used by the reclusive Kim during previous trips abroad.
It was not clear whether Kim was on the train, which was seen going back and forth between the station and the bridge connecting the countries. It did not cross the bridge until 7 pm
Citing unnamed South Korean government sources, the Chosun Ilbo newspaper reported that the train probably departed from the North Korean capital Pyongyang on Sunday evening and that a Kim-Putin meeting was possible as early as Tuesday.
Yonhap news agency and some other media published similar reports. Japan’s Kyodo news agency quoted Russian officials as saying that Kim was probably traveling to Russia on his private train.
South Korea’s presidential office, defense ministry and national intelligence service did not immediately confirm those details.
US officials released intelligence last week that North Korea and Russia are arranging a meeting between their leaders to take place within the month as they look to expand their cooperation amid deepening confrontation with the United States. According to Russia’s TASS news agency, the likely venue for the meeting is the eastern Russian city of Vladivostok, where Putin arrived on Monday to attend an international forum running until Wednesday. The city was also the site of Putin’s first meeting with Kim in 2019. According to US officials, Putin may focus on acquiring more supplies of North Korean artillery and other ammunition to replenish depleted stockpiles as he seeks to defuse a Ukrainian counter-offensive and show that he Are capable of ending a long war of erosion. This could potentially put more pressure on the United States and its partners to pursue talks as concerns grow about a prolonged conflict despite sending huge shipments of advanced weapons to Ukraine over the past 17 months.
Analysts say North Korea probably has millions of artillery shells and rockets based on Soviet designs that could potentially give the Russian military a huge boost.
In return, analysts say Kim could demand much-needed energy and food aid and advanced weapons technologies, including technologies related to intercontinental ballistic missiles, nuclear-capable ballistic missile submarines and military reconnaissance satellites.
There are concerns that potential Russian technology transfers would increase the threat from Kim’s growing arsenal of nuclear weapons and missiles that are designed to target the US, South Korea and Japan.
After decades of a complicated, hot and cold relationship, Russia and North Korea have been getting closer since Moscow’s invasion of Ukraine in February 2022. The bond is motivated by Putin’s need for war aid and efforts to boost Kim’s visibility. Partnership with traditional allies Moscow and Beijing as it tries to break out of diplomatic isolation and make North Korea part of a united front against Washington.
Using the distraction caused by the Ukraine conflict to increase its weapons development, North Korea has repeatedly blamed Washington for the crisis in Ukraine, claiming that the West’s “supremacist policy” itself Justified Russian attack in Ukraine to protect.
North Korea is the only country besides Russia and Syria to recognize the independence of two Russian-backed separatist regions in eastern Ukraine – Donetsk and Luhansk – and it has also expressed interest in sending construction workers to those regions to help with reconstruction efforts. is indicated.
Russia – along with China – has blocked US-led efforts at the UN Security Council to strengthen sanctions on North Korea over its increasing missile tests, while Washington has been on the receiving end of pressure from Pyongyang by increasing military exercises with South Korea and Japan. Accused of increasing tension with.
The United States has been accusing North Korea since last year of providing arms to Russia, including artillery shells sold to the Russian mercenary group Wagner. Both Russian and North Korean officials denied such claims. But speculation about the countries’ military cooperation intensified after Russian Defense Minister Sergei Shoigu’s rare visit to North Korea in July, when Kim invited him to an arms exhibition and a huge military parade in the capital, where he welcomed the US. demonstrated an ICBM designed to target the mainland.
Following that trip, Kim toured North Korea’s weapons factories, including a facility making artillery systems, where he urged workers to speed up the development and mass production of new types of ammunition . Experts say Kim’s tour of factories probably had the dual goal of encouraging North Korean weapons modernization and examining artillery and other supplies that could potentially be exported to Russia.
US President Joe Biden’s chief deputy national security adviser, John Finer, told reporters on Sunday that buying weapons from North Korea “may be the best and only option” for Moscow as it tries to continue its war efforts. .
“We have serious concerns about the possibility of North Korea potentially selling weapons, additional weapons, to the Russian military. It’s interesting to think for a minute about what it says when Russia seeks such partners around the world. Goes looking for people who can help him, it lands on North Korea,” Finer said aboard the plane carrying President Biden from India to Vietnam.
Some analysts say a potential meeting between Kim and Putin would be more about symbolic gains than substantial military cooperation.
Russia, which has always protected its most important weapons technologies, even from key allies like China, may not be willing to make major technology transfers with North Korea, which is a short-lived relationship between the countries. There is a possibility of limited war supplies on the rail link. , They say.