Putin will make “friendly” visit to North Korea on June 18

Moscow:

Russian President Vladimir Putin will travel to North Korea on Tuesday for a “friendly” visit, the Kremlin has announced, as the West suspects Pyongyang of supplying Moscow with weapons for its offensive in Ukraine.

The visit to the most reclusive state in the world comes at a time when Putin is looking for ammunition to continue his military campaign launched in February 2022, which has thrown Moscow into unprecedented global isolation.

It also comes nine months after Putin hosted North Korea’s Kim Jong Un on a rare trip to the Russian Far East, where the two praised each other.

“President Vladimir Putin, on June 18 and 19, will go to the Democratic Republic of North Korea for a friendly state visit,” the Kremlin said in a statement.

Moscow said Putin would then travel to Vietnam.

Western countries, South Korea and Kiev accused Pyongyang of sending weapons to Moscow for use in Ukraine, in violation of UN sanctions on North Korea.

Washington and Seoul say Russia in return provided technical help to Pyongyang for its satellite program and sent aid to the food-starved state.

Putin has reduced foreign travel since launching the offensive in Ukraine, but has made some high-level visits to Moscow’s few key allies, such as China.

Pyongyang rarely receives foreign guests, diplomatically isolated and closed even more since the Covid pandemic.

Russia and North Korea, which share a small land border, have had historical links since the Soviet Union helped found the small state after the Korean War in the 1950s.

Since the fall of the USSR, Russia has been one of the few countries that has maintained working relations with Pyongyang.

‘Comrades in arms’

It will be Putin’s second visit to the country during his term, following a trip 24 years ago, shortly after becoming president, to meet with Kim Jung Un’s father, Kim Jong Il.

At that time, Putin was a frequent traveler, regularly traveling throughout the United States and Europe.

Now Russia finds itself under heavy international sanctions and the Kremlin leader is a persona non grata in most of the Western world, officially wanted by the International Criminal Court (ICC).

Kim said last week that ties with Russia “have turned into an unbreakable relationship of comrades in arms.”

When the leaders met in September, Putin said he saw “possibilities” for military cooperation with North Korea, while Kim wished the Kremlin chief in Ukraine “victory.”

They symbolically presented themselves with rifles and the Kremlin promised that Putin would also visit them.

Since then, a number of Russian officials, including Moscow’s spy chief, have visited North Korea in preparation for the visit.

In March, Russia also used its veto on the UN Security Council to effectively end UN monitoring of North Korean sanctions violations, a move seen as a victory for Pyongyang.

Both Russia and North Korea have denied that Pyongyang’s weapons are being used in Ukraine.

Kim’s powerful sister, Kim Yo Jon, accused Seoul and Washington last month of “misleading public opinion” on the issue.

North Korean shells

Ukraine, however, reported finding North Korean shells on the battlefield.

In May, South Korea said its northern rival had fired several short-range ballistic missiles, with some experts saying they could be testing weapons intended for use against Ukraine.

As the Kremlin and Pyongyang publicly deepen their ties, Moscow’s relationship with South Korea – a supporter of Ukraine – has been extremely tense.

Seoul is a major arms exporter to Kiev. Its president, Yoon Suk Yeol, promised last month to maintain his support in a phone call with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky.

South Korea last month announced separate sanctions against Russian and North Korean individuals and companies that allegedly trade military supplies.

For its part, Russia earlier this year detained a South Korean man, Baek Won-soon, on charges of espionage. He is believed to be the first South Korean detained on spying charges in Russia in decades.

According to media reports, he may have been a missionary helping North Korean workers in Russia escape the country.

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