Seoul, South Korea. russian president Vladimir Putin thanked North Korea for supporting his actions in Ukraine and said their countries will cooperate closely to overcome U.S.-led sanctions as he headed to Pyongyang on Tuesday for a summit with North Korean leader Kim Jong Un.
Putin’s comments appeared in an op-ed in North Korean State media hours before his arrival for a two-day visit as the countries deepen their alignment in the face of separate and increasingly intense confrontations with Washington.
Putin, who will make his first trip to North Korea in 24 years, said he greatly appreciates its strong support for his invasion of Ukraine. He said countries would continue to “resolutely oppose” what he described as Western ambitions to “hinder the establishment of a multipolarized world order based on mutual respect for justice.”
Putin also said Russia and North Korea will develop trade and payment systems “that are not controlled by the West” and will jointly oppose sanctions against the countries, which he described as “unilateral and illegal restrictive measures.”
North Korea is under heavy economic sanctions from the UN Security Council for its nuclear weapons and missile programs, while Russia is also dealing with sanctions from the United States and its Western partners for its aggression in Ukraine.
Putin said the countries will also expand cooperation in tourism, culture and education.
Before heading to North Korea, Putin traveled on Tuesday to Yakutsk, a city in eastern Russia, where he reportedly planned to meet with the local governor, Aisen Nikolayev, and receive briefings on the region’s technology and related projects. defending.
In Pyongyang, streets were decorated with portraits of Putin and Russian flags. A banner hanging on a building read: “We warmly welcome the President of the Russian Federation.”
Putin’s visit comes amidst growing concerns over an arms deal in which Pyongyang provides Moscow with much-needed ammunition to fuel Russia’s war war in ukraine in exchange for economic assistance and technology transfers that would increase the threat posed by Kim’s nuclear weapons and missile program.
Military, economic and other exchanges between North Korea and Russia have increased sharply since Kim visited the Russian Far East in September for a meeting with Putin, the first since 2019.
U.S. and South Korean officials have accused North Korea of providing Russia with artillery, missiles and other military equipment to help prolong the war in Ukraine, possibly in exchange for key military aid and technologies. Both Pyongyang and Moscow have denied allegations of North Korean arms transfers, which would violate multiple U.N. Security Council sanctions that Russia previously backed.
Along with China, Russia has provided political cover for Kim’s continued efforts to upgrade his nuclear arsenal, repeatedly blocking U.S.-led efforts to impose new U.N. sanctions on North Korea for its weapons tests.
In March, A Russian veto at the United Nations. ended monitoring U.N. sanctions against North Korea over its nuclear program, prompting Western accusations that Moscow is trying to avoid scrutiny while buying weapons from Pyongyang for use in Ukraine. U.S. and South Korean officials have said they are discussing options for a new mechanism to monitor the North.
At the beginning of this year, Putin sent Kim a high-end Aurus Senat limousine. which he had shown the North Korean leader when they met in September. Observers said the shipment violated a U.N. resolution banning the supply of luxury goods to North Korea.
John Kirby, spokesman for the US National Security Council, said the deepening relationship between Moscow and Pyongyang is worrying, “not only because of the impacts it will have on the Ukrainian people, because we know that North Korean ballistic missiles are still used to attack Ukrainian targets, but because there could be some reciprocity here that could affect security on the Korean Peninsula.”
“We haven’t seen the parameters of all that at this point, we certainly haven’t seen it come to fruition. But we are certainly going to be watching this very, very closely,” he stated.
Lim Soosuk, a spokesman for South Korea’s Foreign Ministry, said Seoul has been stressing to Moscow that any cooperation between Russia and North Korea must not “move in a direction that violates U.N. Security Council resolutions or undermine peace and stability in the region.
Tensions on the Korean peninsulas are at their highest point in years, and the pace of Kim’s two elections Combined weapons tests and military exercises between the United States, South Korea and Japan. intensifying in a tit-for-tat cycle. The Koreas have also engaged in Cold War-style psychological warfare, with North Korea dropping tons of garbage on the South with balloons and the South broadcasting anti-Korean propaganda broadcasts with its loudspeakers.
South Korea’s military said soldiers fired warning shots to repel the North Korean soldiers. who crossed temporarily the rivals’ land border on Tuesday for the second time this month. The South’s military said North Korea has been increasing construction activity in frontline border areas, such as installing suspected anti-tank barriers, reinforcing roads and laying land mines.
Putin has continually sought to rebuild ties with Pyongyang as part of efforts to restore his country’s influence and its Soviet-era alliances. Moscow’s ties with North Korea weakened after the Soviet collapse in 1991. Kim Jong Un first met Putin in 2019 in the eastern Russian port of Vladivostok.
After North Korea, the Kremlin said Putin will also visit Vietnam on Wednesday and Thursday for talks expected to focus on trade. The United States, which has spent years strengthening ties and accelerating trade with Vietnam, criticized Putin’s planned visit.
“As Russia continues to seek international support to sustain its illegal and brutal war against Ukraine, we reiterate that no country should give Putin a platform to promote his war of aggression and allow him to normalize his atrocities,” a US embassy spokesperson said in Vietnam. he said in a statement.
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