Vladimir Putin ‘gratefully accepts’ Kim Jong Un’s invitation to go to North Korea

Sep 15, 2023 at 12:21 AM

Vladimir Putin has “gratefully accepted” accepted Kim Jong Un’s invitation to go to North Korea.

The Kremlin confirmed the journey on Thursday after the 2 males held a uncommon summit in Russia’s Far East.

Mr Kim is presently in Russia, the place he has vowed to support the Kremlin’s “sacred war” towards Ukraine, elevating issues the 2 nations might bolster their army capabilities.

Read extra: Explosions reported in Crimea – Ukraine war latest

“At the end of the reception, Kim Jong Un courteously invited Putin to visit the DPRK at a convenient time,” KCNA reported, referring to the Democratic People’s Republic of Korea, the nation’s formal identify.

The two leaders toasted their friendship on Wednesday with Russian wine after President Putin confirmed Mr Kim across the nation’s most fashionable area launch facility.

They additionally held talks alongside their defence ministers and known as one another “comrades”.

Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov additionally confirmed Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov will go to Pyongyang subsequent
month.

The burgeoning friendship has involved the West, with Washington accusing North Korea of offering weapons to Russia.

It will not be clear if any deliveries have been made and the 2 states have denied these claims in any case – however they did promise to deepen defence cooperation.

Mr Kim is due on Thursday to go to army and civilian aviation factories within the Russian metropolis of Komsomolsk-on-Amur and to examine Russia’s Pacific fleet in Vladivostok, Mr Putin mentioned.

Military and tech issues at coronary heart of go to

Day two of Kim’s go to to Russia and it’s clear the crimson carpet has been nicely and actually rolled out.

It is uncommon certainly for Russia to open the door to its army websites.

But not solely was North Korea’s chief proven a number one area base, Mr Putin mentioned that as we speak he would additionally go to an aviation manufacturing unit and be given sight of a army programme and an indication of Russia’s pacific fleet within the port metropolis of Vladivostok.

We’ve not been informed if any offers have been struck this week and it is extremely unlikely we’ll ever be taught the specifics, however the symbolism and messaging has been stark: technological and army issues have been completely the order of enterprise.

It’s not simply the West that will probably be watching nervously, Asian nations similar to South Korea and Japan can be on the entrance line of any escalation launched by an empowered and assured North Korea.

Even China, an ally, does not actually wish to see its already unreliable associate nuclear succesful.

Russia would as soon as have been cautious too, and Mr Putin did trace yesterday that there must be limits to army cooperation.

But this go to has made abundantly clear virtually any concern will now be put aside in pursuit of his central purpose: victory in Ukraine.

What type of weapons might North Korea present?

Aidan Foster-Carter, a researcher in sociology and fashionable Korea at Leeds University, informed Sky News that North Korea can most likely provide “good quality ammunitions” to Russia.

He mentioned Mr Putin and Mr Kim every had one thing the opposite wished – however it was nonetheless unclear precisely what that was going to be.

Russia wants artillery shells, he mentioned, and he’s “betting” Mr Kim wanted cash, meals and low-cost oil.

Asked how Mr Kim might assist Mr Putin, he mentioned North Korea was a “highly-militarised state” and targeted on producing armour.

“They probably can supply good quality ammunitions,” he mentioned.

Growing criticism

If an arms deal was to be reached, the US warned it “won’t hesitate” to slap further sanctions on the 2 nations.

South Korea, in the meantime, expressed “deep concerns” over potential army cooperation.

Unification minister Kim Young-ho, who oversees relations with the North, expressed “deep concerns”, including Moscow and Pyongyang have been apparently chasing “some kind of” a army deal.

But Russian diplomats dismissed criticism and accused the US of hypocrisy as its personal insurance policies had despatched weapons to allies all over the world.

“The United States has no right to lecture us on how to live,” Russia’s ambassador to the United States, Anatoly Antonov, mentioned in a press release.

Toast to victory for ‘nice Russia’

Despite rising worldwide criticism, Mr Kim on Wednesday toasted their friendship and to the victory of “great Russia” over a lunch of Russian pelmeni dumplings, white Amur fish soup and sturgeon.

North Korea was based in September 1948 with the backing of the Soviet Union, and Moscow supported it for many years throughout the Cold War.

Support did drop after the Soviet Union collapsed in 1991, however Mr Putin visited Pyongyang in 2000 – a 12 months after taking up from Boris Yeltsin – for a gathering with Mr Kim’s father, Kim Jong Il.

China has been seen as the best affect over Mr Kim in recent times, however North Korea usually tries to stability ties between Moscow and Beijing.