Putin praised North Korea for firmly supporting Moscow’s war in Ukraine before his visit to Pyongyang.
Seoul:
Russian President Vladimir Putin on Tuesday praised North Korea for “firmly supporting” Moscow’s war in Ukraine ahead of his visit to Pyongyang aimed at bolstering ties between the nuclear-armed allies.
“We greatly appreciate that the DPRK (North Korea) is firmly supporting Russia’s special military operations being conducted in Ukraine,” Putin wrote in an article published by the official Korean Central News Agency.
The two countries are “now actively developing the multifaceted partnership”, Putin wrote, pointing out, for example, the fact that Moscow and Kim Jong Un’s regime have “maintained the common line and position at the UN”.
Putin is expected to arrive in the isolated North, which is under successive rounds of United Nations sanctions over Kim’s banned weapons programs, on Tuesday night for his first visit since 2000.
The trip “will put bilateral cooperation on a higher level with our joint efforts and this will contribute to developing reciprocal and equal cooperation between Russia and the DPRK,” the Russian leader wrote, according to KCNA.
Historical allies dating back to the founding of North Korea after World War Two, Moscow and Pyongyang have grown increasingly closer since Russia’s invasion of Ukraine in 2022, as Putin has become increasingly isolated and seeks friends, they say the specialists.
Last year, Kim made a rare trip abroad in his bulletproof train to meet Putin at a Russian spaceport.
Seoul, Washington and Kiev have subsequently alleged that North Korea is sending weapons to Russia for use in its war in Ukraine, violating a series of UN sanctions, in exchange for technical help with its nascent satellite program.
North Korea denied this, calling the allegation “absurd” – while thanking Russia for using its UN veto in March to effectively end monitoring of sanctions violations, at a time when UN experts began investigating alleged arms transfers.
Kim has also stepped up weapons testing, including a series of launches this year of cruise missiles, which analysts say North Korea could supply to Russia for use in Ukraine.
A Pentagon report last month said Russia was using North Korean ballistic missiles in Ukraine, citing debris analysis.
– Defense cooperation –
Quoting a Kremlin aide, Russian agencies said on Monday that the two leaders would sign “important documents” during the visit.
This could include a “comprehensive strategic partnership treaty” that will outline future cooperation and address “security issues,” Kremlin adviser Yuri Ushakov was quoted as saying by Russian state news agencies.
But experts said that in reality any new agreements would focus on boosting the two countries’ defense cooperation.
“Moscow and Pyongyang want to leverage the perception that their ties are long-term and increasingly integrated regarding defense,” Patrick Cronin, chair of Asia-Pacific Security at the Hudson Institute, told the new agency Yonhap.
“They may also suggest that this relationship is comprehensive. Certainly both countries face serious economic dilemmas. But regardless of the words used, current relations will center on defense cooperation.”
Putin’s trip to the North is in reality “two strong men with weak economies reveling in the spotlight as leaders to exchange military technology and subvert the US-led order,” Cronin told Yonhap.
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