North Korean leader Kim Jong Un and Russian President Vladimir Putin met for a rare summit on Wednesday at which they discussed military matters, the war in Ukraine and possible Russian help for the secretive Communist state’s satellite programme.
Putin showed Kim around Russia’s most advanced space rocket launch site in Russia’s Far East after Kim arrived by train from North Korea. Kim asked numerous detailed questions about rockets as Putin showed him around the Vostochny Cosmodrome, Reuters reported.
After the tour, Putin, 70, and Kim, 39, held talks for several hours with their ministers and then one-on-one, followed by a an opulent lunch of Russian “pelmeni” dumplings made with Kamchatka crab and then sturgeon with mushrooms and potatoes.
Kim raised a toast with a glass of Russian wine to Putin’s health, to the victory of “great Russia” and to Korean-Russian friendship, predicting victory for Russia in its “sacred fight” with the West in the Ukraine war.
“I firmly believe that the heroic Russian army and people will brilliantly inherit their victories and traditions and vigorously demonstrate their noble dignity and honour on the two fronts of military operations and building a powerful nation,” Kim told Putin.
“The Russian army and people will certainly win a great victory in the sacred struggle for the punishment of a great evil that claims hegemony and feeds an expansionist illusion,” Kim added, raising his glass.
U.S. and South Korean officials have expressed concern that Kim would provide weapons and ammunition to Russia, which has expended vast stocks in more than 18 months of war in Ukraine. Moscow and Pyongyang have denied such intentions.
Putin gave numerous hints that military cooperation was discussed but disclosed few details. Defence Minister Sergei Shoigu attended the talks and the Kremlin said neighbours discuss sensitive issues which are not for discussing in public.
When asked by Russian media, who were given significant access at the summit, if Russia would help Kim build satellites, Putin said: “That’s why we came here.”
For Russia, the summit was an opportunity to needle the United States, the big power supporter of Ukraine, though it was unclear just how far Putin was prepared to go in fulfilling any North Korean wish lists of technology.
Putin said Kim now planned to visit military and civilian aviation factories in the Russian city of Komsomolsk-on-Amur and inspect the Russia’s Pacific fleet in Vladivostok.
