By Kim Tong-Hyung, SEOUL
South Korea
North Korean leader Kim Jong Un arrived in Russia on Tuesday for an expected meeting with President Vladimir Putin that has sparked concerns about a potential arms deal for Moscow’s war in Ukraine, joined by top military officials in charge of nuclear-capable weapons and munitions factories.
North Korea’s official Korean
Central News Agency said Kim boarded his personal train Sunday afternoon, accompanied by
unspecified members of the country’s ruling party, government and military.
South Korea’s military
assessed the train crossed into Russia sometime early Tuesday, Jeon Ha Gyu,
spokesperson of South Korea’s Defense Ministry, said in a briefing without
elaborating on how the military obtained the information. Kim’s delegation
likely includes his foreign minister, Choe Sun Hui, and his top two military
officials, Korean People’s Army Marshals Ri Pyong Chol and Pak Jong Chon.
Other officials identified in
North Korean state media photos may hint at what Kim might seek from Putin and
what he would be willing to give.
Kim is apparently bringing Jo Chun Ryong,
a ruling party official in charge of munitions policies who accompanied the
leader on recent tours of factories producing artillery shells and missiles.
North
Korea may have tens of millions of artillery shells and rockets based on Soviet
designs that could give a huge boost to the Russian army in Ukraine, analysts
say.
Also identified in photos were
Pak Thae Song, chairman of North Korea’s space science and technology
committee, and Navy Adm. Kim Myong Sik, who are linked with North Korean
efforts to acquire spy satellites and nuclear-capable ballistic missile
submarines. Experts say North Korea would struggle to acquire such capabilities
without external help, although it’s not clear if Russia would share such
sensitive technologies.
A green train with yellow
trimmings, resembling one used by North Korean leader Kim Jong Un on his
previous travels, is seen steaming by a slogan which reads “Towards a new
victory” on the North Korea border with Russia and China seen from China’s
Yiyanwang Three Kingdoms viewing platform in Fangchuan in northeastern China’s
Jilin province on Monday, Sept. 11, 2023. (AP Photo/Ng Han Guan)
Kim Jong Un may also seek
badly needed energy and food aid, analysts say. Japan’s Chief Cabinet Secretary
Hirokazu Matsuno told reporters that Tokyo will be watching the outcome of the
Kim-Putin meeting with concern, including the “impact it could have on Russia’s
invasion of Ukraine.”
Kim and Putin may meet in the eastern Russian city of Vladivostok, where Putin arrived Monday to attend an international forum that runs through Wednesday, according to Russia’s TASS news agency. Putin’s first meeting with Kim was held in 2019 in the city, which is about 425 miles (680 kilometers) north of Pyongyang.
Russian news agencies quoted
Kremlin spokesperson Dmitry Peskov as saying Putin and Kim will meet after the
Vladivostok forum, but the reports didn’t specify when or where.
Peskov said the meeting would include a lunch in Kim’s honor.
Kim Jong Un’s trip to Russia
for a possible meeting with President Vladimir Putin has drawn attention to the
traditional method of travel for North Korean leaders: luxury, armored trains
that have long been a part of the dynasty’s lore and are symbols of its deep
isolation. (September 11)
Deputy foreign minister Andrei
Rudenko said that Russia will inform South Korea about the meeting’s outcome
upon request: “The South Koreans have an embassy in Moscow. If they want, we
can provide them with the information we have.”
Kim is making his first
foreign trip since the COVID-19 pandemic, during which North Korea imposed
tight border controls for more than three years.
Associated Press journalists
near the North Korea-Russia frontier saw a green train with yellow trim similar
to one Kim used during previous foreign trips at a station on the North Korean
side of a border river on Monday.
U.S. officials released
intelligence last week that North Korea and Russia were arranging a meeting
between their leaders.
According to U.S. officials,
Putin could focus on securing more supplies of North Korean artillery and
other ammunition to refill declining reserves as he seeks to rebuff a Ukrainian
counteroffensive and show that he’s capable of grinding out a long war of
attrition. That could potentially put more pressure on the U.S. and its
partners to pursue negotiations as concerns over a protracted conflict grow
despite their huge shipments of advanced weaponry to Ukraine in the past 17
months.
“Arms discussions between
Russia and the DPRK are expected to continue during Kim Jong Un’s trip to
Russia,” said White House National Security Council spokesperson Adrienne
Watson, using the abbreviation for North Korea’s official name of the
Democratic People’s Republic of Korea. “We urge the DPRK to abide by the public
commitments that Pyongyang has made to not provide or sell arms to Russia.”
State Department spokesman
Matthew Miller said Washington will monitor the meeting closely, reminding both
countries that “any transfer of arms from North Korea to Russia would be a
violation of multiple U.N. Security Council resolutions,” and that the U.S.
“will not hesitate to impose new sanctions.”
After decades of a
complicated, hot-and-cold relationship, Russia and North Korea have been
drawing closer since Moscow’s invasion of Ukraine in 2022. The bond has been
driven by Putin’s need for war help and Kim’s efforts to boost the visibility
of his partnerships with traditional allies Moscow and Beijing as he tries to
break out of diplomatic isolation and have North Korea be part of a united
front against Washington.
The United States has accused
North Korea of providing Russia with arms, including selling artillery shells
to the Russian mercenary group Wagner. Both Russian and North Korean officials
denied such claims.
But speculation about the
countries’ military cooperation grew after Russian Defense Minister Sergei
Shoigu made a rare visit to North Korea in July, when Kim invited him to an
arms exhibition and a massive military parade in the capital where he showcased
ICBMs designed to target the U.S. mainland.
Following that visit, Kim
toured North Korea’s weapons factories, including a facility producing
artillery systems where he urged workers to speed up the development and
large-scale production of new kinds of ammunition. Experts say Kim’s visits to
the factories likely had a dual goal of encouraging the modernization of North
Korean weaponry and examining artillery and other supplies that could be
exported to Russia. - AP
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