Putin-Kim Jong Un summit sees North Korean and Russian leaders cement ties in an anti-U.S. show of solidarity

Seoul, South Korea – Russian President Vladimir Putin and North Korean leader Kim Jong Un signed a comprehensive strategic partnership agreement on Wednesday during a summit in Pyongyang in a bid to expand their economic and military cooperation and cement a united front against Washington.

CBS News senior foreign correspondent Elizabeth Palmer says that while Kim’s greeting to Putin at the airport Tuesday night was warm, men are fundamentally allies of expediency. The pact they signed on Wednesday calls for both to commit to defending the other if they are attacked, but officials in the US and other Western capitals believe that Russia, above all, wants to guarantee a constant supply of North Korean weapons. for their countries. war in Ukraine — a grim prospect for both Ukraine and its international backers.

Concern has been growing for months over an arms deal in which North Korea provides Russia with badly needed munitions in exchange for economic assistance and technology transfers that could increase the threat posed by Kim’s war. nuclear weapons and missile program.

Russian state media said Putin and Kim spoke face-to-face for about two hours in a meeting that was originally planned to last an hour.

Kim pledges “full support” to Russia amid Ukraine war

Speaking at the start of Wednesday’s talks, Putin thanked Kim for Support from North Korea for his war in Ukraine, part of what he said was a “struggle against the imperialist hegemonist policies of the US and its satellites against the Russian Federation.”

He called the agreement “a fundamental new document (that) will form the basis of our ties in the long term,” hailing the ties he traces back to the Soviet army that fought the Japanese military on the Korean Peninsula in the final moments of the World War. II, and Moscow’s support for Pyongyang during the Korean War.

Kim said Moscow and Pyongyang’s “ardent friendship” is now even closer than during Soviet times, and pledged “full support and solidarity with the Russian government, army and people in carrying out the special military operation in Ukraine to protect sovereignty, security interests and territorial rights”. integrity.”

Kim has used similar language in the past, consistently saying that North Korea supports what he describes as fair action to protect Russia’s interests and attributing the crisis to the West’s “hegemonic policy” led by the US.

It was not immediately clear what that support would look like, and no details of the agreement were initially released.

Putin gives Kim another limousine and receives portraits in return

Putin’s foreign affairs adviser Yuri Ushakov told reporters in Pyongyang that the two leaders exchanged gifts after the talks.

Putin presented Kim with a Russian-made Aurus limousine and other gifts, including a tea set and a naval officer’s dagger. It was the second Aurus offered by Putin to his North Korean counterpartafter Kim apparently liked the vehicle during a meeting between men in September 2023, in the Russian Far East — a rare incursion by Kim outside the borders of his isolated country.

“When the head of the DPRK (North Korea) was at the Vostochny Cosmodrome, he looked at this car, Putin personally showed it and, like many people, Kim liked this car,” said Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov , in February, after the first Aurus was delivered to Kim. “So this decision has been made… North Korea is our neighbor, our close neighbor, and we intend, and will continue, to develop our relations with all neighbors, including North Korea.”

Ushakov said Kim’s gifts to Putin on Wednesday included artwork depicting the Russian leader.

Deepening ties and alleged arms transfers

North Korea is under heavy UN Security Council sanctions over its weapons program, while Russia also faces sanctions from the United States and its Western partners over its aggression in Ukraine.

U.S. and South Korean officials accuse the North of providing Russia with artillery, missiles and other military equipment for use in Ukraine, possibly in exchange for key military technologies and aid. A South Korean official told CBS News in September 2023, when Kim and Putin last met, that Seoul was concerned about Kim’s regime. could be looking for nuclear-powered submarines and Russian satellite technology, in addition to cooperation in conventional munitions and missile technology.

Both Pyongyang and Moscow deny allegations of North Korean arms transfers, which would violate multiple UN Security Council sanctions that Russia has previously endorsed.

Along with China, Russia has provided political cover for Kim’s continued efforts to advance his nuclear arsenal, repeatedly blocking US-led efforts to impose new UN sanctions on the North over its weapons 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 by buying weapons from Pyongyang for use. in Ukraine. U.S. and South Korean officials said they are discussing options for a new monitoring mechanism for the North.

South Korean analysts say Kim will likely seek stronger economic benefits and more advanced military technologies from Russia, although his most sensitive discussions with Putin are not expected to be made public.

Although Kim’s military nuclear program now includes the development of intercontinental ballistic missiles that can potentially reach the U.S. mainland, he may need outside technological help to significantly advance his program. There are already possible signs that Russia is helping North Korea with technologies related to space rockets and military reconnaissance satellites, which Kim described as crucial to monitoring South Korea and increasing the threat from its nuclear-capable missiles.

The North may also seek to increase labor exports to Russia and other illicit activities to earn foreign currency in defiance of UN Security Council sanctions, according to a recent report from the Institute for National Security Strategy , a think tank run by South Korea’s top spy agency. There will likely be talks on expanding cooperation in agriculture, fishing and mining and on promoting Russian tourism in North Korea, the institute said.

US and its allies react to the Kim-Putin summit

In Washington, US Secretary of State Antony Blinken said Putin’s visit to North Korea illustrates how Russia is trying “in desperation to develop and strengthen relations with countries that can provide it with what it needs to continue to war of aggression that began against Ukraine.”

“North Korea is providing significant munitions to Russia… and other weapons for use in Ukraine. Iran has been providing weaponry, including drones, that have been used against civilians and civilian infrastructure,” Blinken told reporters after a meeting with NATO chief Jens. Stoltenberg on Tuesday.

Tensions on the Korean Peninsula are at their highest point in years, with the pace of Kim’s weapons tests and combined military exercises involving the United States, South Korea and Japan intensifying in a cycle of retaliation.

The Koreas also engaged in Cold War-style psychological warfare, which involved North Korea dropping tons of trash on the South with balloons, and the South broadcasting anti-North Korean propaganda over its loudspeakers.