North Korean leader Kim Jong-un arrived in Russia on Tuesday, where he is expected to meet with the country’s president, Vladimir Putin, according to a South Korean official source.
“The Ministry of Defense believes that North Korean leader Kim Jong-un entered Russia this morning aboard a private train,” said the South Korean government, after North Korean state media and the Kremlin confirmed Kim Jong-un’s trip. .
The meeting between Putin and Kim, who traveled accompanied by a delegation of military personnel who manage North Korean nuclear weapons, has raised concern among Western countries, which fear a potential arms agreement for the war in Ukraine.
Rumors about Kim Jong-un’s move began to circulate a week ago, and Washington suspects that Moscow, isolated from the West since the attack on Ukraine, intends to acquire military equipment from its North Korean ally.
The conclusion of this agreement will inevitably lead to “new sanctions” by the United States, US diplomacy warned again on Monday.
South Korea’s Yonhap news agency had already reported that the North Korean leader’s armored convoy appeared to have left for Russia, which shares a short border with North Korea in the Russian Far East.
This region is not far from Vladivostok, where Putin arrived on Monday to participate in an annual economic forum today.
The statement released by the Kremlin limited itself to saying that the North Korean leader’s trip took place “at the invitation of the Russian president,” according to the North Korean state news agency KCNA.
Kremlin spokesman Dmitri Peskov assured, before the official announcement of the trip, that no meeting between the two leaders at the Vladivostok forum was planned.
KCNA said, without further details, that Kim “will meet and talk with Comrade Putin during the visit.”
According to South Korean television channel YTN, Seoul expects Kim to meet Putin in Russia on Wednesday.
According to the American newspaper The New York Times, this meeting should take place in Vladivostok, about 700 kilometers from Pyongyang.
The New York Times said it believes Moscow is seeking artillery shells and anti-tank missiles from Pyongyang, while Kim is seeking cutting-edge technology for satellites and nuclear-powered submarines, as well as food aid.
Kim Jong-Un has not left North Korea since the start of the Covid-19 pandemic in 2020.
Source: TSF
