Evocative gifts: Vladimir Putin and Kim Jong-un gave each other a rifle during the North Korean leader’s current visit to Russia, the Kremlin said on Thursday, confirming that the Russian president had agreed to visit Pyongyang.
These gifts appear highly symbolic at a time when the United States suspects Russia of wanting to buy weapons from Pyongyang to support its assault in Ukraine.
For the moment, however, nothing has been officially communicated regarding a possible agreement for the delivery of equipment or military collaboration between the two regimes, isolated and under international sanctions.
Mr. Putin gave Mr. Kim a glove from a spacesuit that has traveled to space several times. He also presented Mr. Kim with a Russian-made rifle of the highest quality. In return, he received a rifle made in North Korea
, Kremlin spokesperson Dmitri Peskov told reporters on Thursday.
Warm relationships
According to the North Korean press agency, Kim Jong-un on Wednesday invited his Russian counterpart to visit North Korea when it suits him
.
On Thursday, Dmitry Peskov confirmed that Vladimir Putin had accepted this invitation with pleasure
. The North Korean leader’s visit to Russia continues for a few more days
, Peskov added without giving further details on the program.
The day before, Vladimir Putin had announced that Mr. Kim was to go to Komsomolsk-on-Amur, in the Russian Far East, to visit factories there which produce civil and military
aeronautical equipment .
He must then attend a military demonstration
by the Russian Pacific Fleet in Vladivostok, where he had already visited in 2019, said Vladimir Putin.
Symbolic visit
On Wednesday, during his first trip abroad since the COVID-19 pandemic, Kim Jong-un met Vladimir Putin at the Russian Vostochny cosmodrome for a tour of the site and official discussions lasting more than two hours.
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Discussions about a possible agreement on arms exchanges took place in Vostochny between the two leaders.
PHOTO: POOL/AFP VIA GETTY IMAGES / MIKHAIL METZEL
Moscow then offered Pyongyang to send a North Korean cosmonaut into space, according to Russian news agencies. This would be a first for a North Korean at a time when the country wants to develop its space programs.
Also on Wednesday, Kim Jong-un assured Mr. Putin that Moscow would achieve a major victory
over its enemies and said a rapprochement with Russia will be North Korea’s top foreign policy priority .
The Russian president, for his part, praised the future strengthening of cooperation
with Pyongyang, raising prospects
for military cooperation despite international sanctions against North Korea because of its nuclear programs and its missiles in development.
Discomfort felt
The White House said Thursday that national security adviser Jake Sullivan discussed the Putin-Kim meeting with his South Korean and Japanese counterparts.
They stressed that any arms export from North Korea to Russia would be a direct violation of several United Nations Security Council resolutions, including resolutions that Russia itself pushed through, detailed a
statement .
This summit reflects an immense change in geopolitics in Northeast Asia
, said Kim Jong-dae, former South Korean deputy and guest researcher at the Yonsei Institute for North Korean Studies.
A stronger alliance between Pyongyang, Moscow and Beijing could lead to destabilization in the region
, while munitions supplied by Pyongyang would have a significant impact on the conflict in Ukraine, he said.
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The meeting was particularly warm between the two leaders, which caused unease, particularly in the United States and South Korea.
PHOTO: POOL/AFP VIA GETTY IMAGES / VLADIMIR SMIRNOV
I believe that Russia has already tested North Korean shells on the battlefields and is now ready to expand their use. Neither the United States nor South Korea have understood the consequences of such an arms sale between Russia and North Korea
, Kim Jong-dae further asserted.
Washington had expressed concern
, mentioning that Russia was interested in purchasing North Korean munitions to support its assault in Ukraine, which has been going on for more than a year and a half.
In Vostochny, Mr. Putin raised the possibility of Russia helping Pyongyang build satellites after North Korea recently failed twice to put a military spy satellite into orbit.
Mr. Putin was the first Russian head of state to visit North Korea in 2000 when it was led by Kim Jong-il, father of the current leader. The Duma then ratified a friendship treaty between the two countries.
The Russian Minister of Defense, Sergei Shoigu, went to Pyongyang in July on the occasion of the anniversary of the end of the fighting between the two Koreas (1950-1953). The head of Russian diplomacy, Sergei Lavrov, is expected there in October, according to the Kremlin.
Source : ici.radio-canada.ca