North Korean leader Kim Jong Un and Russian President Vladimir Putin met Wednesday for a rare summit in which they discussed military issues, the war in Ukraine and possible Russian help for the communist state’s satellite program.
Putin showed Kim Russia’s most advanced space rocket launch site in the Russian Far East after Kim arrived by train from North Korea. Kim asked several detailed questions about the rockets as Putin showed him the Vostochny Cosmodrome.
After the tour, Putin, 70, and Kim, 39, spoke for several hours with their ministers and then alone, followed by a lunch of Russian “pelmeni” ravioli made with Kamchatka crab and sturgeon with mushrooms and potatoes.
Kim toasted with a glass of Russian wine to Putin’s health, the victory of “great Russia” and Russian-Korean friendship, predicting Russia’s victory in its “sacred struggle” with the West in the war in Ukraine.
“I firmly believe that the heroic Russian army and people will brilliantly inherit their victories and traditions and vigorously demonstrate their noble dignity and honor on both fronts of military operations and in building a powerful nation,” Kim told Putin.
“The Russian army and people will definitely achieve a great victory in the sacred struggle for the punishment of a great evil that claims hegemony and fuels an expansionist illusion,” Kim added, raising his glass.
U.S. and South Korean officials have expressed concern about the possibility of Kim supplying weapons and ammunition to Russia, which has spent huge stockpiles in more than 18 months of war in Ukraine. Moscow and Pyongyang have denied such intentions.
Putin gave several indications that military cooperation was being discussed, but revealed few details. Defense Minister Sergei Shoigu took part in the talks and the Kremlin said the neighbors discussed sensitive issues that should not be discussed in public.
When Russian media, which had significant access to the summit, asked whether Russia would help Kim build the satellites, Putin replied: “That’s why we came here.”
For Russia, the summit was an opportunity to mock the United States, the great power backing Ukraine, although it was unclear how far Putin was willing to go to satisfy any of Russia’s technological wish lists. North Korea.
Putin and Kim called each other “comrades” over lunch, and Putin repeatedly reminded Kim that it was the Soviet Union that supported North Korea – and was the first to recognize this, just over 75 years ago, since its creation.
Russia recently joined China in opposing new sanctions against North Korea, blocking a U.S.-led initiative and publicly dividing the United Nations Security Council for the first time since it began punishing Pyongyang in 2006.
Asked about military cooperation, Putin said Russia respects international rules, but that there are opportunities to explore.
The choice to meet at the Vostochny Cosmodrome – a symbol of Russia’s ambitions as a space power – was notable given that North Korea has failed to launch reconnaissance satellites twice in the past four months.
BALLISTIC MISSILE
As Kim traveled through Russian forests by train, North Korea fired two short-range ballistic missiles from an area near the capital, Pyongyang, into the sea off its eastern coast.
It was the first such launch by North Korea while Kim was abroad, analysts said, demonstrating a greater level of delegation and more refined control systems for the country’s nuclear and missile programs. .
Kim had made only seven foreign trips in his 12 years in power, all in 2018 and 2019. He also briefly crossed the inter-Korean border twice.
The composition of Kim’s delegation to Russia, which was attended by munitions industry department director Jo Chun Ryong, suggests an agenda with a strong emphasis on defense cooperation, analysts said.
“In Korea there is a proverb that says: good clothes are new ones, but old friends are the best friends. And our people say: one old friend is better than two new ones,” Putin told Kim.
“This folk wisdom is fully applicable to modern relations between our countries.”
Source: Terra
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