The leader of the DPRK Kim Jong Un arrived in Russia for negotiati]ns with Putin about the supply of North Korean weapons to the Russian occupiers.
The Japanese agency Kyodo writes about this with reference to sources.
It is specified there that Kim Jong Un arrived at the Hasan station on an armored train. When he had just left Pyongyang, the official Korean Central News Agency confirmed his visit to the Russian Federation.
The leader of North Korea went to Russia accompanied by high-ranking officials of the arms industry and the military, as well as the minister of foreign affairs.
A South Korean Defense Ministry spokesman said he believed Kim Jong Un had arrived in Russia early Tuesday, while Russiaʼs pro-government TASS news agency reported that Putin had arrived in Vladivostok.
During his 12 years in power, Kim Jong Un rarely travels abroad, making only seven trips abroad — four of them to China.
- Earlier, The New York Times, citing American officials, wrote that the parties will discuss the possibility of supplying Russia with North Korean weapons for the war in Ukraine and other military cooperation. And in return, the DPRK will ask for advanced satellite technology and developments related to nuclear submarines. At the same time, Kim Jong Un wants to receive food aid.
- The United States has expressed concern over the ongoing arms negotiations between Russia and North Korea. The official representative of the White House on national security issues John Kirby reported that the Minister of Defense of Russia Sergei Shoigu traveled to North Korea at the end of July to try to convince Pyongyang to sell artillery ammunition to Russia.
- In June, Bloomberg wrote that for the first time since 2020, Russia resumed oil supplies to North Korea, which is under sanctions. The USA claims that the deepening of cooperation between the countries involves the supply of weapons from Pyongyang for Russiaʼs war in Ukraine.
- In early November 2022, the United States officially accused the DPRK of secretly supplying Russia with artillery shells. At the end of December 2022, the Reuters agency wrote that the Russian PMC "Wagner" received a shipment of weapons from North Korea. Pyongyang rejects accusations of arms sales to Russia and calls them "baseless rumours".
- On September 5, 2022, The New York Times, citing declassified US intelligence, reported that Russia is buying artillery shells and short-range missiles from North Korea. Later, the White House also said it had information about Russiaʼs plans to buy short-range missiles and millions of artillery ammunition from North Korea.