Kim Jong Un in Russia to meet Putin

SEOUL (AP):

North Korea’s Kim Jong Un rolled through Russia on an armoured train Tuesday toward a meeting with President Vladimir Putin, a rare encounter between isolated leaders driven together by their need for support in escalating standoffs with the West.

Kim is expected to seek economic aid and military technology for his impoverished country, and, in a twist, appears to have something Putin desperately needs: munitions for Russia’s gruelling war in Ukraine.

It’s a chance for the North Korean leader to get around crippling UN sanctions and years of diplomatic isolation. For Putin, it’s an opportunity to refill ammunition stores that the war has drained.

Any arms deal with North Korea would violate the sanctions, which Russia supported in the past.

Kim’s personal train stopped in Khasan, a station on the Russia-North Korea border, early Tuesday where it was met by a military honour guard and a brass band. He was met on a red carpet by regional Governor Oleg Kozhemyako and Natural Resources Minister Alexander Kozlov, according to North Korean state media and video posted on social media channels.

Kim said his decision to visit Russia four years after his previous visit – his first foreign trip since the COVID-19 pandemic – showed how Pyongyang is “prioritising the strategic importance” of its relations with Moscow, North Korea’s official news agency said Wednesday.

The Korean Central News Agency said Kim then left for his destination, but it didn’t specify where.

Many had assumed he and Putin would meet in Vladivostok, a Russian city close to the border where the two leaders had their last meeting in 2019, and which Putin is visiting this week for an economic forum.

But Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov confirmed only that Kim has entered Russia, and state news agency RIA-Novosti later reported his train had headed north after crossing the Razdolnaya River, taking it away from Vladivostok. The South Korean news agency Yonhap later published a photo it said showed the train in Ussuriysk, a city about 60 kilometres (about 40 miles) north of Vladivostok that has a sizeable ethnic Korean population.

Some Russian news media speculate he is headed for the Vostochny spaceport, which Putin is to visit soon. At the forum, Putin declined to say what he intended to do there. The launch facility is about 900 kilometres (550 miles) northwest of Ussuriysk, but the route there is circuitous and it is unclear how long Kim’s slow-moving train would take to reach it.

Peskov said Putin and Kim will meet after the Vladivostok forum, and that the meeting would include a lunch in Kim’s honour.

Kim Jong Un’s trip to Russia for a possible meeting with President Vladimir Putin has drawn attention to the traditional method of travel for North Korean leaders: luxury, armoured trains that have long been a part of the dynasty’s lore and are symbols of its deep isolation.

Kim left Pyongyang on his train Sunday, accompanied by members of the ruling party, government and military, KCNA said.

He is apparently accompanied by Jo Chun Ryong, a ruling party official in charge of munitions policies who joined him on recent tours of factories producing artillery shells and missiles, according to South Korea’s Unification Ministry. Russian Defence Minister Sergei Shoigu will be part of the Russian delegation, Peskov said.

North Korea may have tens of millions of ageing artillery shells and rockets based on Soviet designs that could give a huge boost to the Russian army in Ukraine, analysts say.