Russian President Vladimir Putin accepted an invitation to visit North Korea, the state-run KCNA reported on Thursday as strongman Kim Jong Un ended his rare trip to Russia.
Both leaders met at the Vostochny Cosmodrome in Amur, in Russia’s far eastern region, where Putin took Kim Jong Un on a tour, showing him launch facilities for the Angara and Soyuz-2 space rocket launchers before holding a two-hour long summit.
After the talks, both leaders exchanged pleasantries and presided over a dinner host Putin held in honour of the North Korean leader. “Our relations were established back in Korea’s fight for freedom in 1945, when Soviet and Korean soldiers fought side by side against Japanese militarists,” Putin said.
“A toast to the future strengthening of cooperation and friendship between our countries,” Putin said beside a smiling Kim Jong Un.
Kim Jong Un, who, according to experts, was in Russia to help Putin procure 122-millimetre rockets used by Soviet-era BM-21 “Grad” multiple launchers, anti-tank weapons and howitzers from the 1950s and 1960s in return of Russian help in putting a military spy satellite into orbit.
“We talked about the fact that if the North Korean side wishes, a North Korean cosmonaut can be trained and sent into space,” the Kremlin said.
Kim Jong Un also wished Putin success in his so-called “military operation” in Ukraine. “We are confident that the Russian army and people will win a great victory in the just fight to punish evil groups who pursue hegemony, expansion, and ambition,” Kim Jong Un said.
Amidst all of this, Chinese President Xi Jinping could be left unimpressed.
But Beijing may not be impressed with Moscow as Putin ventures into easternmost regions of Asia, an area China considers to be under its sphere of influence. The talks between Putin and Kim Jong Un may have also included food aid as North Korea’s several regions face starvation due to sanctions as well as policy failure.
“China will be hardly too happy about Russia entering into what Chinese consider their monopoly territory. Beijing would be worried about regional destabilisation caused by any transfer of Russian military technology to Pyongyang,” Vladimir Tikhonov, professor of Korean studies at the University of Oslo, told news outlet AFP.
President Xi Jinping said in April Beijing would push for a “higher stage” of relations with Pyongyang and foreign ministry spokesperson Mao Ning also said that the relationship between North Korea and Russia should be seen in isolation.
“The visit of the North Korean leader to Russia is an arrangement between the two countries and pertains to relations between North Korea and Russia. At present, China-North Korea relations are developing well,” Mao Ning said.
China has invited Venezuela’s Nicolas Maduro, formerly a pariah in the global community, and Cambodia’s new Prime Minister, General Hun Manet (who took over reigns from his strongman father, Hun Sen), to Beijing, as both Moscow and Beijing engage in a race of courting leaders whose countries face sanctions and who themselves face international criticism for their domestic policies.
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