Kim ‘impressed’ during visit to Russian aircraft factories
Seoul, Sep 16 (EFE).- Kim Jong-un said he was “deeply impressed” during his visit to Russian aircraft factories in Komsomolsk-on-Amur, North Korean state news agency KCNA reported Saturday.
On Friday, Kim inspected military and civil aircraft manufacturing plants in the company of the North Korean heads of foreign affairs and defense, Choe Son-hui and Kang Sun-nam, the marshals and members of the Presidium of the Politburo, Ri Pyong-chol and Pak Jong-chon, and Air Force Commander Kim Kwang-hyok.
The North Korean leader was “deeply impressed by the rich independent potential and modernity of the Russian aircraft manufacturing industry and its ceaseless enterprising efforts toward new goals,” he said on Friday at the aircraft manufacturing facilities, according to KCNA.
Kim also expressed “sincere regard for Russia’s aviation technology” and wrote in the visitor’s book that he was “witnessing the rapid development of Russia’s aviation technology and its gigantic potential.”
Russia’s Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of Industry and Trade Denis Manturov, the general director of these industrial complexes, Yuri Slusari, as well as their manager, Alexandr Pekarsh, guided the North Korean leader on his visit, during which he watched a flight demonstration of the Su-35 multirole fighter and boarded a commercial airliner.
On Wednesday Kim and Russia’s President Vladimir Putin held a summit at the Vostochny Cosmodrome, in the Amur region, and although the details have not been made public, Putin said after the meeting that there is room for military and space cooperation between the two countries.
According to media outlets such as The New York Times last week, citing US intelligence sources, Kim could be willing to support Moscow’s war in Ukraine with anti-tank missiles and artillery ammunition, while Pyongyang could receive, in addition to food aid, satellite and nuclear-powered submarine technology.
The United States, South Korea and Japan have insisted this week that an agreement of this nature would be a violation of United Nations Security Council resolutions affecting Pyongyang and would have consequences for all countries.
On Saturday Kim arrived at Artyom railway station in Russia’s Primorye region, 45 kilometers from Vladivostok, Russian state news agency TASS reported.
He was expected to be in Vladivostok on Saturday, where the Russian defense ministry was to show him the capabilities of the Navy’s Pacific Fleet, Putin said on Wednesday.
In addition, Kim was to visit the Far Eastern Federal University in Vladivostok, as well as the Russian Academy of Sciences, including laboratories researching marine biology.
Kim has been traveling in Russia since Sep. 12 but it is not yet known which day the North Korean leader and his delegation will leave the country. EFE
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