- By Derek Cai
- BBC News, Singapore
September 11, 2023
Updated 35 minutes ago
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Kim Jong Un waves from his private train before setting off on a trip to the Russian Far East.
North Korean leader Kim Jong Un has traveled to Russia for a summit with President Vladimir Putin.
The two would likely discuss an arms deal as Russia faces a Ukrainian counteroffensive, a U.S. official said.
According to KCNA, Mr. Kim will be accompanied by senior government officials, including military personnel.
The Kremlin has also confirmed its visit to Russia. The meeting between the two heads of state and government is expected to take place on Tuesday local time.
Photos shared by state media showed Mr Kim waving from his armored train before leaving Pyongyang.
According to the BBC’s US partner CBS News, the Pentagon said it expected “some kind of meeting.”
If the summit with Mr Putin goes ahead, it would be the North Korean leader’s first international trip in more than four years and the first since the pandemic.
High on the meeting’s agenda is the possibility of North Korea supplying Moscow with weapons to support its war in Ukraine, a U.S. official previously told CBS.
Kim’s last foreign trip was also to Vladivostok in 2019 for a summit with Mr Putin after North Korea’s nuclear disarmament talks with then US President Donald Trump failed.
His train is rumored to consist of at least 20 bulletproof cars, making it heavier than average trains and unable to travel faster than 59 km/h (37 mph). His journey to Vladivostok is expected to take a full day.
The White House said there was new information that arms negotiations between Russia and North Korea were “actively moving forward.”
National Security Council spokesman John Kirby previously said that Russian Defense Minister Sergei Shoigu tried to “persuade Pyongyang to sell artillery ammunition to Russia” during a recent visit to North Korea.
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In July, Russian Defense Minister Sergei Shoigu visited North Korea
According to Ankit Panda of the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace, Russia and North Korea each have things the other country wants.
“What now matters is whether both sides can find reasonable prices that they are willing to pay for each other’s help,” he told the BBC.
Russia will likely ask North Korea for conventional weapons, including artillery shells and rocket artillery ammunition, in exchange for food and raw materials, as well as further support in international forums such as the United Nations, he said.
“This could open the possibility of North Korea transferring more sophisticated weapons to Russia so that Moscow can maintain and replenish its own stockpiles of conventional weapons,” he said.
It is believed that Russia may need 122mm and 152mm shells as its supplies run out. However, due to the country’s secrecy, it is not easy to determine North Korea’s entire artillery inventory.
Among the weapons on display at the meeting between Mr. Kim and Mr. Shoigu in July was the Hwasong intercontinental ballistic missile, believed to be the country’s first solid-propellant intercontinental ballistic missile.
It was the first time since the Covid pandemic that Mr Kim opened the country’s doors to foreign guests.
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From 2019: Putin and Kim toast at the summit in Vladivostok