Putin arrives in North Korea for first visit in 24 years as anti-West alignment deepens

CNN
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Russian President Vladimir Putin has landed in North Korea for a rare visit that speaks to the two countries’ growing alignment and the need for Moscow to source weapons from Pyongyang to continue its war against Ukraine.

North Korean leader Kim Jong Un personally greeted Putin at the landing ramp of his plane as he arrived in the North Korean capital of Pyongyang in the early hours of Wednesday morning local time, video footage from His arrival.

State media RIA reported that the two leaders chatted animatedly for several minutes before reaching their motorcade.

The two men then traveled together to the Kumsusan state guesthouse where Putin will stay, according to North Korean state media KCNA, and the two leaders “exchanged their deepest pent-up thoughts and opened up their minds to develop more surely (North Korea-Russia). ) relations consistent with the common desire and will of the people of the two countries.

After arriving at the guest house, they had a “friendly conversation”, KCNA added.

The streets of Pyongyang were adorned with Russian flags and posters of Putin ahead of his first visit to the country since 2000. This week’s visit is a rare foreign trip for Putin since he launched the invasion of Ukraine in 2022, and a key moment for Kim, who has not hosted another world leader in his politically isolated country since the Covid-19 pandemic.

Putin’s visit will be closely watched around the world and is expected to further strengthen the burgeoning partnership between the two powers, based on their shared animosity toward the West and driven by Moscow’s need for munitions for its war in Ukraine.

After his visit to North Korea, Putin is expected to travel to Hanoi to demonstrate Vietnam’s communist government’s ties to Russia, potentially antagonizing the United States.

Putin’s trip to North Korea will have a “very eventful” schedule, his aide Yuri Ushakov said at a news conference Monday. The two leaders plan to sign a new strategic partnership, Ushakov said.

Ushakov insisted the deal was not provocative or directed against other countries, but was aimed at ensuring greater stability in Northeast Asia. He said the new agreement would replace documents signed between Moscow and Pyongyang in 1961, 2000 and 2001.

Satellite images from Planet Labs and Maxar Technologies showed preparations for a grand parade in Pyongyang’s central square. An image shows a grandstand under construction on the east side of Kim Il Sung Square, the site where all major parades in North Korea take place. In an earlier image, taken on June 5, North Koreans can be seen practicing marching formations.

US national security spokesman John Kirby told reporters on Monday that the Biden administration was not “concerned about the trip” itself, but added: “What we are concerned about is is the deepening of relations between these two countries.

The United States, South Korea and other countries have accused North Korea of ​​providing substantial military aid to the Russian war effort in recent months, while observers have expressed concerns about the possibility that Moscow will violate international sanctions to help Pyongyang develop its new military satellite program. Both countries have refused North Korean arms exports.

Putin’s trip follows one made by Kim last September, when the North Korean leader rode his armored train to Russia’s far-eastern region on a visit that included stops in a factory that produces fighter jets and a rocket launch facility.

It also comes as tensions remain high on the Korean Peninsula, amid heightened international concern over the intentions of the North Korean leader, who has stepped up his belligerent rhetoric and abandoned a long-standing policy of seeking peaceful reunification with South Korea.

South Korea fired warning shots Tuesday after North Korean soldiers working in the demilitarized zone (DMZ) separating the two Koreas briefly crossed the border into the South, according to the South’s Joint Chiefs of Staff Koreans, the second such incident in the past two weeks.

Kim last week hailed the future of “meaningful ties and close camaraderie” between the two countries in a message to Putin to commemorate Russia’s June 12 national day.

“Our people give full support and solidarity to the successful work of the Russian army and people,” Kim said, according to the official Rodong Sinmun newspaper.

In an article in the same newspaper published Tuesday morning local time, Putin thanked Pyongyang for its “unwavering support” for Russia’s war in Ukraine and said the two countries were “ready to confront the ambition of the collective West.” .

He said the two countries were “actively advancing their multifaceted partnership” and “developing alternative trade and mutual settlement mechanisms not controlled by the West, jointly opposing illegitimate unilateral restrictions and shaping the architecture of sustainable security.” equal and indivisible in Eurasia.

The meeting comes just days after a summit of the Group of Seven (G7) developed economies in Italy, attended by Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky, at which Western leaders reiterated their enduring support for Ukraine and agreed to use profits from frozen Russian assets to support a $50 billion project. loan to the war-torn country.

It also follows a Kyiv-backed international peace summit over the weekend attended by more than 100 countries and organizations that aimed to drum up support for Zelensky’s vision of peace, which calls for a complete withdrawal of Russian troops from Ukrainian territory.

Putin rebuffed these efforts a day before the rally by proposing his own peace terms, including the withdrawal of Ukrainian troops from four partially occupied regions and the withdrawal of kyiv from its NATO candidacy – a position considered unsustainable by the Ukraine and its allies.

Putin’s visit to North Korea is widely seen as an opportunity for him to seek to shore up Kim’s support for his war – a goal that could become increasingly urgent as US military aid to Ukraine , long delayed, goes online.

Last month, US Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin told US lawmakers that the supply of North Korean munitions and missiles, as well as Iranian drones, had allowed Russian forces to “get back on their feet.”

Between August and February, Pyongyang shipped about 6,700 containers to Russia, which could contain more than 3 million rounds of 152mm artillery shells or more than 500,000 rounds of 122mm multiple rocket launchers, the official said. South Korean Defense Ministry earlier this year.

Moscow and Pyongyang have denied such arms transfers, with a senior North Korean official last month calling such allegations an “absurd paradox.”

Asked about concerns that Russia was considering transferring sensitive technology to Pyongyang in exchange for those goods, a Kremlin spokesperson said last week that the countries’ “potential to develop bilateral relations” was “profound” and “should not worry anyone and should not and cannot be disputed by anyone.

Putin last visited North Korea in 2000, his first year as Russia’s president, where he met with Kim’s predecessor and late father, Kim Jong Il.

His trip to North Korea and then Vietnam comes as the Russian leader appears eager to re-establish himself on the world stage, eroding his image of isolation following his widely condemned invasion of Ukraine by attracting like-minded partners. same ideas. .

Last month, Putin paid a state visit to Beijing, where he and Chinese leader Xi Jinping made clear their shared opposition to what they see as a U.S.-led global order.

Moscow hosted foreign ministers from countries including China, Iran, South Africa and Brazil last week for a meeting of the BRICS group of major developing economies.

US national security spokesman John Kirby on Monday called Putin’s latest trip a “charm offensive” following the leader’s re-election. Putin won his fifth term earlier this year, without any real opposition.

Putin’s decision to strengthen ties with North Korea has also been a boon for Kim, who remains unfazed by years of international sanctions linked to his illegal nuclear weapons program.

The visit by a leader from a permanent member of the United Nations Security Council will provide a signal to Kim’s domestic audience about his global influence – and an opportunity to push for much-needed economic and technological support from the leaves from Moscow.

Russia has previously supported international sanctions and U.N.-backed investigations into North Korea’s illegal weapons program, which includes tests of long-range intercontinental ballistic missiles that could in theory reach the U.S. mainland.

But Russia’s growing dependence on North Korea and growing friction with the West appear to have changed this dynamic. In March, Moscow vetoed a U.N. resolution to renew independent monitoring of North Korea’s violations of Security Council sanctions.

Additional reporting by Gawon Bae, Michael Mitsanas, Katharina Krebs, Mariya Knight, Yoonjung Seo, Betsy Klein and Paul P. Murphy