Kim Jong-un is reportedly traveling to Russia by train to discuss a possible arms deal, with the Kremlin confirming on Monday that the North Korean dictator has received an invitation from Vladimir Putin.
Citing unidentified South Korean government sources, the Chosun Ilbo newspaper reported that the armored train likely left the North Korean capital Pyongyang on Sunday evening and that a meeting between Kim and Putin is possible as early as Tuesday.
Yonhap news agency and some other media outlets published similar reports, while Japan’s Kyodo news agency quoted Russian officials as saying Kim may have been heading to Russia on his personal train.
North Korea is one of the few countries that has openly supported Russia since its invasion of Ukraine in February 2022, and Putin last week pledged to “expand bilateral ties in all respects in a planned manner by joining efforts.”
A summit between Kim and Putin would likely focus on military cooperation and possibly a deal to supply weapons, U.S. and South Korean officials and analysts say.
According to reports, Kim Jong Un is traveling to Russia by train amid rumors of a meeting with President Vladimir Putin to discuss a possible arms deal. It will be the first meeting between the couple since April 2019 (pictured)
U.S. officials released intelligence last week that North Korea and Russia were arranging a meeting between their leaders to take place this month.
The Kremlin confirmed the meeting on Monday.
“At the invitation of Russian President Vladimir Putin, Kim Jong Un, Chairman of State Affairs of the Democratic People’s Republic of Korea, will pay an official visit to the Russian Federation in the coming days,” the statement said.
The two countries are believed to be taking steps to expand their cooperation in light of increasing confrontations with the United States.
A possible location for the meeting is the eastern Russian city of Vladivostok, where Putin arrived on Monday to attend an international forum that runs through Wednesday, according to Russian news agency TASS.
The city was also the site of Putin’s first meeting with Kim in 2019.
U.S. officials say Putin could focus on securing more North Korean artillery and other munitions to bolster his stalled invasion and replenish dwindling reserves as he tries to defuse a Ukrainian counteroffensive.
He would also like to show that he is capable of enduring a long war of attrition.
That could potentially put more pressure on the United States and its partners to continue negotiations, as concerns grow about a protracted conflict despite their massive deliveries of advanced weapons to Ukraine over the past 17 months.
North Korea may have tens of millions of artillery shells and missiles based on Soviet designs that could potentially provide a major boost to Russia’s military, analysts say.
In return, Kim could seek much-needed energy and food aid and advanced weapons technologies, including technologies related to intercontinental ballistic missiles, nuclear-capable missile submarines, and military reconnaissance satellites.
Speculation about military cooperation between the two countries grew after Russian Defense Minister Sergei Shoigu (pictured left) made a rare visit to North Korea in July, when Kim invited him to a weapons exhibition and a huge military parade in the capital, where he exhibited ICBMs designed to target the US mainland.
There are concerns that potential Russian technology transfers would increase the threat posed by Kim’s growing arsenal of nuclear weapons and missiles designed to attack his enemies, including the United States, South Korea and Japan.
After decades of a complicated hot-and-cold relationship, Russia and North Korea have grown increasingly closer since Putin’s invasion of Ukraine.
The bond is driven by Putin’s need for war assistance and Kim’s efforts to increase the visibility of his partnerships with traditional allies Moscow and Beijing.
He has taken steps to break diplomatic isolation and make North Korea part of a united front against Washington.
As North Korea used the distraction caused by the Ukrainian conflict to ramp up its weapons development, it has repeatedly blamed the United States for the Ukraine crisis, claiming that the West’s “hegemonist policies” were encouraging a Russian offensive in Ukraine justified to protect itself.
North Korea is the only country apart from Russia and Syria to recognize the independence of two Russian-backed separatist regions in eastern Ukraine – Donetsk and Luhansk – and has also hinted at an interest in sending construction workers to those areas to help with reconstruction. .
Russia – along with China – has blocked US-led efforts in the UN Security Council to strengthen sanctions on North Korea over its intensifying missile tests.
Moscow has also accused Washington of exacerbating tensions with Pyongyang by expanding military exercises with South Korea and Japan.
The United States has accused North Korea since last year of supplying weapons to Russia, including artillery shells sold to the Russian mercenary group Wagner.
Both Russian and North Korean officials denied such claims.
But speculation about military cooperation between the countries increased after Russian Defense Minister Sergei Shoigu made a rare visit to North Korea in July, when Kim invited him to a weapons exhibition and a huge military parade in the capital, where he flew ICBMs exhibited that were designed to target the US. mainland.
After Shoigu’s visit, Kim toured North Korea’s weapons factories, including a plant producing artillery systems, where he urged workers to accelerate the development and large-scale production of new types of ammunition.
Experts say Kim’s visits to the factories likely had a dual purpose: encouraging the modernization of North Korean weapons and examining artillery and other supplies that could potentially be exported to Russia.
Jon Finer, US President Joe Biden’s deputy national security adviser, told reporters on Sunday that buying weapons from North Korea is “perhaps the best and perhaps the only option” open to Moscow as it tries to keep its war effort going .
A possible location for the meeting is the eastern Russian city of Vladivostok, where Putin arrived on Monday to attend an international forum that runs through Wednesday, according to Russian news agency TASS. The city was also the site of Putin’s first meeting with Kim in 2019
“We are deeply concerned about the prospect of North Korea potentially selling weapons, additional weapons, to the Russian military.
“It’s interesting to take a moment to think about what it says: when Russia goes around the world looking for partners who can help the country, it lands on North Korea,” Finer said aboard a plane that Biden flew from India to Vietnam transported.
Some analysts say a possible meeting between Kim and Putin would be more about symbolic gains than substantive military cooperation.
Russia – which has always closely guarded its key weapons technologies, even against key allies like China – may be unwilling to make major technology transfers with North Korea for what are likely to be limited war supplies carried over a small rail link between the countries. transported. , they say.