Kim Jong-un travels to Russia at Putin’s invitation with arms supplies on agenda
Moscow/Seoul, Sep 11 (EFE).- North Korean leader Kim Jong-un boarded a train on Monday bound for Russia, where he will meet with Russian president Vladimir Putin.
According to media reports, Kim and Putin are expected to address the supply of weaponry to Moscow to support its invasion of Ukraine.
The Kremlin has confirmed that Kim will make an official visit to Russia “in the coming days”, in what would be the North Korean dictator’s first foreign trip since 2019.
The meeting between Kim and “Comrade Putin” was also confirmed by the North Korean state news agency KCNA.
According to Yonhap news agency citing South Korea officials, the North Korean leader’s armored train left Pyongyang on Monday, allegedly bound for Russian territory.
MEETING IN VLADIVOSTOK
Putin traveled Monday morning to Vladivostok, the capital of the Russian Far East and the likely venue for the talks with Kim.
This week the Russian leader is due to chair the Eastern Economic Forum in Vladivostok, where he will meet with Zhang Guoqing, vice premier of China, the main ally of the North Korean regime.
The Kremlin suggested that the summit would take place at the end of that forum, which concludes on Wednesday.
“We have been preparing for Kim Jong-un’s visit for a long time,” a government source in a Russian Far East region told Russian agencies.
It was unknown when exactly Kim might arrive in Vladivostok, which is about 700 kilometers from the North Korean capital, as his movements are shrouded in secrecy.
The last time Kim traveled to that same city to meet with Putin, in April 2019, he traveled in his special armored train, which took around 20 hours to reach the Pacific Ocean port city.
This is Kim’s first trip abroad since 2019, when the outbreak of the Covid-19 pandemic led the isolated regime to close its borders in early 2020.
The hermetic Asian country only allowed people from abroad to enter again, under strict protocols, this summer.
MUNITION AND MISSILES FOR UKRAINE
Last week The New York Times and other US and UK media reported that Kim would meet with Putin to discuss military-technical cooperation with an eye on the war in Ukraine.
According to that newspaper, Putin wants to buy artillery ammunition and anti-tank missiles from North Korea that Moscow could use on the battlefied in Ukraine.
The press has reported that North Korea, which has technically been at war with South Korea for 70 years as no peace treaty has ever been signed since the end of hostilities in 1953, has millions of 122 and 151 millimeter howitzers in its arsenals, while experts also point out that Pyongyang has spare parts for Soviet-made T-54 and T-62 tanks.
Meanwhile, North Korea is reportedly seeking advanced technology to build satellites and nuclear-powered submarines, as well as oil production and food aid.
NUCLEAR PRECEDENT
