Kim Jong-un told Vladimir Putin that ‘great Russia’ will triumph over ‘evil’ as the two tyrants met for talks which could lead to an arms deal supplying the Kremlin with weapons for its war in Ukraine.
The North Korean leader met the Russian president for a rare summit on Wednesday where they are expected to have struck a deal to provide Moscow with much-needed artillery shells in return for advanced satellite technology.
Putin, 70, showed Kim, 39, around Russia’s most advanced space rocket launch site in Russia’s Far East after the latter crossed the border in his armoured train.
After the tour, the pair – who called each other ‘comrade’ – sat down for several hours with 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.
He told the Russian president: ‘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.
‘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.’
US 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.
When asked by Russian media, who were given significant access at the summit, if the Kremlin would help Kim build satellites, Putin said: ‘That’s why we came here.
‘The leader of the DPRK shows great interest in rocket engineering; they are also trying to develop space. We’ll show our new objects.
‘We’ll talk about all the issues without haste, there is time.’
DPRK is short for the Democratic People’s Republic of Korea, North Korea’s formal name.
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.
Kim, in turn, expressed support for Moscow’s efforts to defend its interests, in an apparent reference to the war in Ukraine.
The choice to meet at Vostochny Cosmodrome – a symbol of Russia’s ambitions as a space power – was notable, as North Korea twice failed to launch reconnaissance satellites in the past four months.
Kim has made it a top priority to launch a spy satellite, while pushing his nuclear-armed country to step up the development of ballistic missiles, drones and attack submarines.
After showing Kim around a building where the Angara, Russia’s new 42.7-metre space launch rocket, is assembled, Putin said Kim had shown a ‘great interest in rocket engineering’.
Ahead of his meeting with Putin, Kim signed the visitor book in Korean: ‘The glory to Russia, which gave birth to the first space conquerors, will be immortal’.
As Kim was making his way through the forests of Russia by train, North Korea launched two short-range ballistic missiles from an area near the capital, Pyongyang, into the sea off its east coast.
It was the first such launch by the North while Kim was abroad, analysts said, demonstrating an increased level of delegation and more refined control systems for the country’s nuclear and missile programmes.
Kim had made just seven trips abroad in his 12 years in power, all in 2018 and 2019.
He also briefly stepped across the inter-Korean border twice.
The make-up of Kim’s delegation to Russia, with the notable presence of Munitions Industry Department Director Jo Chun Ryong, suggested an agenda heavy on defence industry cooperation, analysts said.
‘In Korea, there is a proverb: good clothes are those that are new, but old friends are best friends. And our people say: an old friend is better than two new ones,’ Putin told Kim.
‘This folk wisdom is fully applicable to modern relations between our countries.’
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