The visit renewed fears in the West that North Korea could supply Moscow with weapons for its attack on Ukraine.
North Korean leader Kim Jong-un expressed his “sincere thanks” to Russian President Vladimir Putin on his return trip after a nearly week-long visit to Russia, state media reported on Monday (September 18).
The North Korean No. 1’s trip to the Russian Far East, which ended on Sunday and focused on defense, revealed possible military ties between the two countries as Kim Jong-un checks a range of equipment such as Russian space rockets or submarines had. The two men even went so far as to symbolically offer each other a rifle. The trip also raised Western fears that the isolated, nuclear-armed country could provide Moscow with weapons for its attack on Ukraine.
No agreement signed
At the end of that visit, which began on Tuesday, Kim “expressed his sincere gratitude to President Putin and the Russian leaders” for “their special attention and warm hospitality,” the official North Korean agency said on Monday. KCNA. He also wished “prosperity for Russia and well-being for its people,” KCNA added. The focus of the trip on Wednesday was a meeting with Russian President Vladimir Putin at the Vostochny Cosmodrome, almost 8,000 kilometers east of Moscow.
According to KCNA, the North Korean leader’s visit to Russia will “go down in history for a long time” and will further consolidate the “militant unity” of the two countries while opening “a new chapter” in their relations. But the Kremlin, for its part, assures that “no deal” was signed this week, Vladimir Putin accepted an invitation from Kim to travel to North Korea and mentioned possible help for the production of satellites after two recent attempts by Pyongyang failed. Before his departure from Vladivostok on Sunday, the North Korean leader received five explosive drones as a gift from the regional governor, as well as a reconnaissance drone and a bulletproof vest, according to the TASS agency.
Aboard his armored train, Kim Jong-un is “on his way home after giving a radical new twist to the history of the development of relations between the DPRK and Russia,” KCNA said, referring to the Democratic People’s Republic of Korea. the official name of North Korea. Moscow and Pyongyang, historic allies, are both under global sanctions: Moscow for its offensive in Ukraine, Pyongyang for its nuclear weapons tests. The West suspects Moscow of wanting to buy weapons from Pyongyang for the conflict in Ukraine, while North Korea is suspected of wanting to acquire Russian technologies for its satellite, nuclear and ballistics programs.