Russian President Vladimir Putin set to visit Kim Jong Un in North Korea

Russian President Vladimir Putin is set to visit North Korea for a two-day visit this week, both countries announced Monday, after months of speculation and amid international concerns about their military cooperation.

Last year, North Korean leader Kim Jong Un traveled to a remote rocket launch facility in Siberia to meet Putin. After that summit, Kim invited the Russian leader to visit Pyongyang.

North Korea’s official Korean Central News Agency said Putin will pay a state visit on Tuesday and Wednesday. It did not immediately provide details. Russia confirmed the visit in a simultaneous announcement.

This will be Putin’s first trip to North Korea in 24 years. He first visited Pyongyang in July 2000, months after his first election, when he met with Kim’s father, Kim Jong Il, who then ruled the country.

There are growing concerns about an arms deal in which Pyongyang provides Moscow with badly needed munitions to fuel Putin’s campaign. war in Ukraine in exchange for economic assistance and technology transfers that would increase the threat posed by Kim’s nuclear weapons and missile program.

Military, economic and other cooperation between North Korea and Russia has increased sharply since Kim visited the Russian Far East in September for a meeting with Putin, his first since 2019.

U.S. and South Korean officials have accused the North of providing Russia with artillery, missiles and other military equipment to help prolong its fighting in Ukraine, possibly in exchange for key military technologies and aid. Both Pyongyang and Moscow have denied accusations about North Korean arms transfers.

Any arms trade with North Korea would be a violation of multiple UN Security Council resolutions that Russia, a permanent member of the UN Security Council, has previously endorsed.

Andrei Lankov, a North Korea expert at Kookmin University in Seoul, noted that in exchange for supplies of artillery shells and short-range ballistic missiles, Pyongyang hopes to obtain state-of-the-art weapons from Moscow.

Lankov noted that while Russia may be reluctant to share its cutting-edge military technologies with North Korea, it is eager to receive munitions from Pyongyang. “There is never enough ammunition in a war, there is a huge demand for it,” Lankov told the Associated Press.

There were signs that Kim was preparing for a lavish celebration for Putin as he tried to raise the profile of their relationship to a domestic audience. The North Korea-focused website NK News said on Monday that its analysis of commercial satellite images suggests the North is possibly preparing a large parade in a square in the country’s capital, Pyongyang. In recent months, Kim has made Russia his main focus as he tries to strengthen his regional position and expand cooperation with nations confronting the United States, embracing the idea of ​​what he describes as a “new Cold War.”

“This visit is a victory”

During telephone conversations with South Korea’s deputy foreign minister on Friday, US Deputy Secretary of State Kurt Campbell expressed concern that Putin’s visit to the North would result in greater military cooperation between the countries. , which potentially undermines stability in the region, Seoul’s Foreign Ministry said in a statement. declaration. “The list of countries willing to host Putin is shorter than ever, but for Kim Jong Un this visit is a victory,” said Leif-Eric Easley, a professor at Ewha University in Seoul.

“The summit not only improves North Korea’s status among countries that oppose the US-led international order, but also helps reinforce Kim’s domestic legitimacy. Russia cannot replace China economically, but increased cooperation with Moscow shows that Pyongyang has options.”

Moscow said it “greatly appreciates” Pyongyang’s support for Russia’s military action in Ukraine and cited its “close and fruitful cooperation” at the United Nations and other international organizations.

Russia and China have repeatedly blocked attempts by the US and its partners to impose new UN sanctions on North Korea over its spate of banned ballistic missile tests. In March, a Russian veto at the United Nations ended monitoring of UN sanctions against North Korea over its nuclear program, leading to Western accusations that Moscow is trying to avoid scrutiny as it allegedly violates sanctions when purchasing weapons from Pyongyang for use in Ukraine.

During a press conference in March, South Korean Defense Minister Shin Wonsik said that North Korea had already sent around 7,000 containers full of ammunition and other military equipment to Russia. In return, Shin said North Korea received more than 9,000 Russian containers, likely full of aid. Kim has also used Russia’s war in Ukraine as a distraction to accelerate his weapons development while pursuing a nuclear arsenal that could feasibly threaten the United States and its Asian allies. This has led the US and South Korea to expand their combined military exercises and refine their nuclear deterrence strategies built around US strategic assets.

At the beginning of this year, Putin sent Kim a high-quality Aurus Senat limousine, which he showed the North Korean leader when they met for a summit in September. Observers said the shipment violated a UN resolution aimed at pressuring the North to give up its nuclear weapons program by banning the supply of luxury goods to North Korea.

Putin has continually sought to rebuild ties with Pyongyang as part of efforts to restore his country’s global influence and Soviet-era alliances. Moscow’s ties with North Korea weakened after the Soviet collapse in 1991. Kim Jong Un first met Putin in 2019 at the eastern Russian port of Vladivostok.