North Korean leader Kim Jong Un visits Korean People’s Army Air Force headquarters on the occasion of Aviation Day in North Korea, in this picture released by North Korea’s Korean Central News Agency (KCNA) on December 1, 2023.
KCNA | Reuters
North Korea has abolished key government organizations tasked with managing relations with South Korea, state media said Tuesday, as authoritarian leader Kim Jong Un said he would no longer pursue reconciliation with his rival.
North Korea’s official Korean Central News Agency said the decision to abolish the agencies handling dialogue and cooperation with the South was made during a meeting of the country’s rubber-stamp parliament on Monday.
During a speech at the assembly, Kim blamed South Korea and the United States for raising tensions in the region. He said it has become impossible for the North to pursue reconciliation and a peaceful reunification with the South.
He called for the assembly to rewrite the North’s Constitution in its next meeting to define South Korea as the North’s “No. 1 hostile country.”
Tensions on the Korean Peninsula are at their highest point in years after Kim in recent months ramped up his weapons demonstrations. The United States and its allies Seoul and Tokyo responded by strengthening their combined military exercises and sharpening their nuclear deterrence strategies.
North Korean leader Kim Jong Un said his country will launch three additional military spy satellites, build more nuclear weapons and introduce modern unmanned combat equipment in 2024, as he called for “overwhelming” war readiness to cope with U.S.-led confrontational moves, state media reported Sunday.
Kim’s comments, made during a key ruling Workers’ Party meeting to set state goals for next year, suggest he’ll continue a run of weapons tests to increase his leverage in future diplomacy ahead of the U.S. presidential elections in November. Observers say Kim could eventually offer to halt North Korea’s testing activities and take other limited denuclearization steps in return for sanctions relief but he has no intentions of fully abandoning his advancing nuclear arsenal.
During the five-day meeting that ended Saturday, Kim said moves by the U.S. and its followers against North Korea have been unprecedented this year, pushing the Korean Peninsula to the brink of a nuclear war, according to the official Korean Central News Agency.
“The grave situation requires us to accelerate works to acquire overwhelming war response capabilities and thorough and perfect military readiness to suppress any types of provocations by the enemies at a stroke,” Kim said, according to KCNA.
Kim set forth plans to fire three more military spy satellites next year in addition to the country’s first reconnaissance satellite launched in November. He also ordered authorities to press ahead with work to manufacture more nuclear weapons and develop various types of modern unmanned combat equipment such as armed drones and powerful electronic warfare devices, KCNA said.
Kim has been focusing on modernizing his nuclear and missile arsenals since his high-stakes nuclear diplomacy with then-President Donald Trump broke down in 2019 due to wrangling over international sanctions on the North. Since last year, Kim’s military has test-fired more than 100 ballistic missiles, many of them nuclear-capable weapons targeting the mainland U.S. and South Korea, in violation of U.N. bans.
The U.S. and South Korea responded by expanding their military exercises and deploying U.S. strategic assets such as bombers, aircraft carriers and a nuclear-armored submarine. North Korea calls the moves U.S-led invasion rehearsals.
South Korea’s spy agency said last week that North Korea will likely launch military provocations and cyberattacks ahead of South Korean parliamentary elections in April and the U.S. presidential election in November.
“Pyongyang might be waiting out the U.S. presidential election to see what its provocations can buy it with the next administration,” said Leif-Eric Easley, a professor at Ewha University in Seoul.
“The Kim regime has closed the political door on denuclearization negotiations but could offer rhetorical restraint and a testing freeze in exchange for sanctions relief,” Easley said. “Although North Korea has no intention of giving up nuclear weapons, it might try to extract payment for acting like a so-called responsible nuclear power.”
In the face of deepening confrontations with the U.S. and its partners, North Korea has sought to beef up its cooperation with Russia and China, which have repeatedly blocked the U.S. and others’ attempts to toughen U.N. sanctions on the North over its banned missile tests. The U.S. and South Korea accuse North Korea of supplying conventional arms like artillery and ammunition to Russia in return for high-tech Russian technologies to boost its own military programs.
Julianne Smith, U.S. permanent representative to NATO, said earlier this month the U.S. assessed that the suspected Russian technologies North Korea seeks are related to fighter aircraft, surface-to-air missiles, armored vehicles, ballistic missile production equipment or materials of that kind. Smith said U.S. intelligence indicates that North Korea has provided Russia with more than 1,000 containers of military equipment and munitions.
South Korean officials said Russian support likely enabled North Korea to put its spy satellite into orbit for the first time on Nov. 21. Many foreign experts are skeptical about the satellite’s ability to take militarily meaningful high-resolution images. But South Korean Defense Minister Shin Wonsik said in November that Russia could help North Korea produce higher-resolution satellite photos.
North Korea has said it will launch three more military spy satellites, build military drones and boost its nuclear arsenal in 2024, continuing a military modernisation programme that saw a record number of weapons tests this year.
Pyongyang put a spy satellite into orbit in November at its third attempt and this month, again launched its most powerful intercontinental ballistic missile (ICBM), which is seen as having the range to deliver a nuclear warhead to anywhere in the United States.
“The task of launching three additional reconnaissance satellites in 2024 was declared” as one of the key policy decisions for 2024 at the end of a five-day party meeting chaired by leader Kim Jong Un, the official Korean Central News Agency (KCNA) reported.
Kim wrapped up the meeting on Saturday, lashing out at the US, which he blamed for making war inevitable.
“Because of reckless moves by the enemies to invade us, it is a fait accompli that a war can break out at any time on the Korean Peninsula,” Kim said, according to KCNA.
He ordered the military to prepare to “pacify the entire territory of South Korea”, including with nuclear bombs if necessary, in response to any attack.
Experts say North Korea aims to continue its policy of military pressure to try and increase any leverage around November’s presidential elections in the US, where former President Donald Trump is bidding to return to power.
When Trump was last in office, he held two summits with Kim and met him at the demilitarised zone that divides the two Koreas, but while the events made lots of headlines, they failed to make any breakthrough.
US President Joe Biden’s administration has deepened political and military ties with South Korea and imposed new sanctions as Pyongyang has tested more weapons.
Washington has also deployed nuclear-powered submarines in South Korea as well as flown its long-range bombers in drills with Seoul and Tokyo.
“Pyongyang might be waiting out the US presidential election to see what its provocations can buy it with the next administration,” Leif-Eric Easley, a professor of international studies at Ewha Womans University in Seoul, wrote in an email.
Kim said he could not ignore such US deployments, claiming such weapons had completely transformed South Korea into a “forward military base and nuclear arsenal” of the US.
“If we look closely at the confrontational military actions by the enemy forces… the word ‘war’ has become a realistic reality and not an abstract concept,” Kim said.
Kim said he has no choice but to press forward with his nuclear ambitions and develop deeper relations with other countries that oppose the US. North Korea has deep ties with both China and Russia.
South Koreans will also go to the polls in April for a parliamentary election that could affect the domestic and foreign agenda of President Yoon Suk-yeol, a conservative who has maintained a hawkish stance towards Pyongyang.
South Korea’s National Intelligence Service (NIS) warned on Thursday that there was a “high possibility that North Korea could unexpectedly conduct military provocations or stage a cyberattack in 2024, when fluid political situations are expected with the elections”.
Speaking at the end of the party meeting, Kim said he would no longer seek reconciliation and reunification with South Korea, noting the “persisting uncontrollable crisis situation”.
Relations between the two Koreas have deteriorated sharply this year, with Pyongyang’s spy satellite launch prompting Seoul to partially suspend a 2018 military agreement that was supposed to help reduce tensions on the peninsula. In response, North Korea said it would move more troops and military equipment to the border and would not be constrained by the 2018 pact.
“I believe that it is a mistake that we should no longer make to consider the people who declare us as the ‘main enemy’… as a counterpart for reconciliation and unification,” KCNA cited Kim as saying.
‘Can’t match’ South Korea
Pyongyang declared itself an “irreversible” nuclear power last year and has repeatedly said it will never give up its nuclear programme, which it views as essential for its survival.
The United Nations Security Council has adopted many resolutions calling on North Korea to halt its nuclear and ballistic missile programmes since it first conducted a nuclear test in 2006. The last test was in 2017.
Kim promised to strengthen nuclear and missile forces, build unmanned drones, expand the submarine fleet and develop its capabilities in electronic warfare in 2024, but Easley said that even with such developments, it would remain far behind Seoul.
“The Kim regime may believe it can violate UN sanctions on its weapons programs with impunity, but even with the support of Moscow and Beijing, Pyongyang can’t match South Korea’s sophisticated defence acquisitions and training coordinated with the United States and Japan,” he said.
“Seoul is pushing ahead both in outer space and with aerial drones, so despite North Korea’s cyber hacking and efforts at launching spy satellites, it will likely fall further behind on military technology and intelligence in the New Year.”
North Korea’s successful launch of a spy satellite followed two high-profile failures and came a couple of months after Kim visited Russia for a summit with Russian President Vladimir Putin who promised to help North Korea build satellites.
South Korean officials have said Russian assistance probably contributed to the success of the third mission. Seoul and Washington are also concerned that Pyongyang has been selling weapons to Russia in exchange for such technological know-how.
KIM Jong-un is said to be giving top end Mercedes cars to members of his inner circle – but no one knows how he is getting them.
The North Korean dictator clearly isn’t short of cash despite ruling over an impoverished nation as he has been splashing out on a slew of fancy cars.
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Cabinet Premier Kim Tok Hun seen arriving for a meeting in a stretch Mercedes limo on December 27, 2023Credit: KCTV
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South Korean President Moon Jae-in, left, and North Korean leader Kim Jong-un ride in a car parade in September 2018 in PyongyangCredit: Getty
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Kim drives off after a meeting with Russian President Vladimir Putin in September 2023Credit: AP
The purchases would make him in breach of UN sanctions.
Kim, 39, has recently been seen riding around in four new foreign vehicles, including an armoured Mercedes Maybach S560 sedan, which would cost at least £179,000, other luxuryMercedes-Benz, LexusSUVs and Ford vans, according to the Seoul-based NK News.
He has also been seen in a Rolls-Royce Phantom, in the past.
Mystery though surrounds just how Kim managed to get his hands on the vehicles and into North Korea.
The country has been restricted by severe United Nations sanctions in an attempt to curb the escalation of the communist regime’s nuclear weapons and missile programme.
Despite those sanctions, the regime has been able to smuggle in luxury items, including flash watches, designer bags and clothes as well as expensive alcohol, all enjoyed by Kim and his Pyongyang cronies.
Japanese cops last week foiled an attempt to smuggle a $70,000 Lexus into North Korea via Bangladesh, according to the Asahi Shimbun.
Police reportedly raided a car dealer who had allegedly claimed that Singapore was the vehicle’s final destination, breaking the Japanese Customs Act.
In 2018, he put on a grand show of riding to a historic meeting with the South Korean president in a black Mercedes limousine, flanked by a dozen bodyguards jogging along side.
Last weekend, state TV channel KCTV showed footage of Kim arriving in a new S650 sedan at the National Meeting of Mothers, where he gave a speech stating the importance of having children and bringing them up to love the regime, according to NK News.
Accompanying him was a convoy of Lexus and Toyota SUVs, some of which had been fitted out with new police lights and other emblems.
Despite the US and its allies carrying out surveillance operations to try to prevent sanction breaches, luxury cars and other top-end goods appear regularly in the country.
It’s thought a new route used by Russian cargo ships heading to North Korea’s Rason, on the country’s northeast coast, is thought to be facilitating the latest shipments.
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What you get for your money
According to a 2019 report by the Washington-based Centre for Advanced Defence Studies, Pyongyang’s ability to smuggle vehicles through China, South Korea and Japan showed how it was also able to supply its nuclear weapons programme.
The centre said last week it had identified 17 vessels registered to Pacific nations that it believed were linked to “illicit” North Korean oil supply chains.
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Kim is surrounded by a dozen security guards during talks in 2018 with South KoreaCredit: AFP or licensors
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Even North Korean cops drive around in MercedesCredit: Getty
North Korea’s Kim Jong Un was caught in an apparent moment of weakness this week after state media aired footage showing the supreme leader wiping away tears as he discussed the country’s declining birth rate.
On at least one occasion in a news bulletin broadcast on Monday, the official Korean Central Television showed an emotional Kim dabbing at his eyes with a handkerchief while seated on stage before thousands of women at a National Conference of Mothers.
Women are treated as second class citizens under North Korea’s intensely patriarchal society, in what is already one of the poorest countries in the world, although their role as potential breadwinners has increased in recent decades—most working-age men are in state-assigned jobs with low wages or in the military.
In this screen grab of a Korean Central Television broadcast on December 4, 2023, North Korean leader Kim Jong Un is seen dabbing at his eyes at a conference for mothers. Kim lamented the country’s falling birth rate and encouraged North Korean women to do their part to meet the challenge. KCNA
Kim on Sunday named “stopping the declining birth rate” among the social challenges facing the nation, urging mothers to do their part, according to a transcript of his speech carried by the Pyongyang Times.
The 39-year-old, who observers believe to be a father of three children, asked mothers to foster social unity and family harmony, to raise their children to “carry forward our revolution,” and to crack down on “non-socialist practices,” which he said were on the rise, the state-owned newspaper said.
North Korean state media said gifts were handed out to conference participants as the gathering closed on Monday. KCTV showed thousands of women—belonging to varying age groups but all wearing traditional dress—overwhelmed with emotion at the sight of the country’s supreme leader.
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Participants of a conference of mothers receive gifts from Kim Jong Un’s government on December 5, 2023, in Pyongyang. KCNA
Participants of a conference of mothers receive gifts from Kim Jong Un’s government on December 5, 2023, in Pyongyang. KCNA Participants of a conference of mothers receive gifts from Kim Jong Un’s government on December 5, 2023, in Pyongyang. KCNA
North Korea’s fertility rate stands at 1.8 births per woman, according to estimates by the United Nations Population Fund, an agency focused on sexual and reproductive health.
While this tops the birth rate of its neighbor to the south, the figure is lower than in the United States and other middle- to high-income economies and remains far below those of many other low-income countries.
U.N. experts say a fertility rate of 2.1 is needed for a population to sustain itself over time.
While a shrinking labor force may dampen the economic outlook for any country, this is particularly true for North Korea, owing to its lack of capital and technology inflows, South Korean think tank the Hyundai Research Institute said in an August report.
The authors attributed the problem to a famine that gripped North Korea in the 1990s, coupled with policies from the 1970s-80s that limited population growth.
The generation that grew up during the famine has now entered the workforce, according to the researchers, and the childhood malnutrition experienced by this demographic may negatively impact their productivity and reproduction levels.
Kim’s appeal echoed those of other leaders in recent months.
President Vladimir Putin of Russia in a speech last week prevailed upon women in his country to make large families, with as many as eight children, “the norm.”
SEOUL (Reuters) – North Korean leader Kim Jong Un has called for the military’s readiness to respond to any provocation by enemies, state media said on Friday, after Pyongyang vowed to deploy stronger armed forces and new weapons on its border with the South.
Visiting the air force headquarters on Thursday to mark the country’s air men day, Kim rolled out operational strategic guidelines to improve the military’s readiness and war capabilities, KCNA news agency said.
The visit was followed by a stop at a fighter wing where the pilots staged an air show, it said.
“(Kim) highly evaluated the pilots’ tight readiness to perform air combat missions without a glitch regardless of any unfavourable settings,” KCNA said.
North Korea last week successfully launched its first reconnaissance satellite, which it has said was designed to monitor U.S. and South Korean military movements.
The United States and its allies have strongly condemned the launch as a violation of multiple United Nations Security Council resolutions. Pyongyang has said it would launch more satellites, calling it an exercise of a right to self-defence.
South Korea has suspended part of an inter-Korean military deal in response to the satellite launch and stepped up surveillance along the heavily fortified border with the North, to which Pyongyang responded by vowing stronger armed forces and new weapons along the border area.
The United States on Thursday targeted North Korea with fresh sanctions over the satellite launch, designating foreign-based agents it accused of facilitating sanctions evasion.
(Reporting by Soo-hyang Choi; Editing by Richard Chang)
South Korean military officials say the launch, directed at the East Sea, appears to be unsuccessful.
North Korea has carried out a suspected unsuccessful missile test, according to South Korea’s military, a day after Pyongang said it successfully launched a spy satellite.
South Korea’s Joint Chiefs of Staff said the launch came from North Korea’s capital region late on Wednesday. The missile was fired into the sea east of North Korea and the effort apparently failed, the Joint Chiefs of Staff said early on Thursday without giving details, including the type of missile fired.
The North Korean launch came hours after South Korea suspended parts of the 2018 inter-Korean military tension reduction agreement in response to the North’s launch on Tuesday of a military spy satellite.
The agreement had created a buffer zone and barred aerial surveillance on the heavily militarised border with the North.
On Tuesday, North Korea’s space agency said it had successfully launched a Malligyong-1 satellite into orbit, part of an effort to enhance surveillance capabilities against the United States and South Korean forces.
South Korea and its alllies condemned the launch as a violation of United Nations resolutions. Military authorities in South Korea confirmed that the spy satellite has entered orbit but said they will need additional time to assess whether it is functional.
The White House said the launch “raises tensions and risks destabilizing the security situation in the region and beyond”.
Japanese Prime Minister Fumio Kishida said his government had made a “strong protest against North Korea”.
North Korea has consistently asserted that building up its surveillance capabilities is a “sovereign right”, striking a defiant tone in the face of widespread opposition and as tensions rise on the Korean Peninsula.
The country had tried to launch what it called spy satellites on two previous occasions this year, but both of those efforts ended in failure.
BERLIN — Facing war on two fronts — in Ukraine and in the Middle East — Kyiv is calling on Western democracies to ramp up investment in weapons, saying that arms factory output worldwide is falling miles short of what is needed.
In an interview, Ukraine’s Minister for Strategic Industries Oleksandr Kamyshin told POLITICO Western countries needed to accelerate production of missiles, shells and military drones as close to frontlines as possible.
“The free world should be producing enough to protect itself,” Kamyshin said, on a mission to the German capital to persuade arms producers to invest in war-ravaged Ukraine. “That’s why we have to produce more and better weapons to stay safe.”
Current factory capacity was woeful, he argued. “If you get together all the worldwide capacities for weapons production, for ammunition production, that will be not enough for this war,” said Kamyshin of the state of play along Ukraine’s more than 1,000 kilometers of active frontline.
As the Israel Defense Forces continue to pummel Gaza and fighting gathers pace along the contact line in Ukraine, armies are burning through ammunition at a rate not seen in decades. Policymakers are asking whether Western allies can support both countries with air defense systems and artillery at once.
The answer, says Kamyshin, is to start building out production facilities now. “What happens in Israel now shows and proves that the defense industry globally is a destination for investments for decades,” he said.
Since Russia’s war on Ukraine started in February 2022, western governments have been funneling arms to Kyiv. That includes hundreds of thousands of artillery rounds, armored vehicles and other equipment.
But as the grind of war continues, Kyiv has changed tack — appointing Kamyshin, the former boss of Ukraine’s state railway — to the post of minister for strategic industries. Ukraine, formerly a major military hub in the Soviet Union, is now trying to increase output of armored vehicles, ammunition and air defense systems, he said, and wants Western partners to invest.
A key step is expected on Tuesday, when German Chancellor Olaf Scholz and Ukrainian Prime Minister Denys Shmyhal will announce a new joint venture between Rheinmetall and Ukroboronprom, a Ukrainian defense company, Kamyshin said.
In late September, Germany’s Federal Cartel Office gave the green light to the cooperation agreement after a review that found the proposed venture “does not result in any overlaps in terms of competition in Germany.”
Building local
Last March, EU countries pledged to send a millionartillery rounds to Ukraine over the following year as part of a program to lift production. Ukraine may need as much as 1.5 million shells annually to sustain its war effort, a daunting task that Kamyshin hopes he can help, at least partially, with domestic output.
In total, Ukraine has received over 350 self-propelled and towed artillery systems from NATO countries and Australia. Combined with Soviet-era pieces in Ukrainian stocks prior to the Russian invasion, Kyiv has approximately 1,600 pieces of artillery in service — but must cover a massive front.
Ukraine has received over 350 self-propelled and towed artillery systems from NATO countries and Australia | Anatolii Stepanov/AFP via Getty Images
And although the deepening of the German-Ukrainian defense relationship is a boon for Kyiv’s war effort, the enemy on the battlefield — Russia — can also leverage its own international relationships for war materiel, and has been quick to agree military hardware deals with the likes of Iran and North Korea.
Earlier this month, reports pointed out Pyongyang likely transferred a sizable shipment of artillery ammunition to Russia. The details of the deal are secret, but the shipment came on the heels of a visit to Pyongyang by Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov. North Korean leader Kim Jong Un in turn made a trip to Russia by rail and met with Russian President Vladimir Putin.
Russia previously struck a deal with Tehran for Iranian loitering munitions that hammered cities across Ukraine last winter in an intentional targeting of civilian infrastructure.
The increasingly international scope of sourcing for the war in Ukraine is not limited to non-NATO countries. Poland recently started taking delivery of tanks, howitzers, rocket launchers and light attack aircraft from South Korea, a nod to how quickly Seoul can ramp up production affordably.
For Kamyshin, the key was to make plans for the long term.
“This war can be for decades,” he said. “[The] Russians can come back always.”
North Korean leader Kim Jong Un is on his way home Sunday from Russia, ending a six-day trip that triggered global concerns about weapons transfer deals between the two countries locked in separate standoffs with the West.
Kim’s armored train departed to the sound of the Russian patriotic march song “Farewell of Slavianka” at the end of a farewell ceremony at a railway station in Artyom, a far eastern Russian city about 200 kilometers (124 miles) from the border with North Korea, Russia’s state news agency RIA reported.
Senior officials including Russia’s Minister of Natural Resources Alexander Kozlov and Primorye regional Gov. Oleg Kozhemyako were present at the ceremony, which featured a Russian military band playing both North Korean and Russian national anthems.
It was Kim’s longest foreign travel since he took power in late 2011. Observers said Kim was expected to return to Pyongyang, the North Korean capital, around Monday afternoon.
North Korean leader Kim Jong Un waves as he boards his train at a railway station in the town of Artyom outside Vladivostok in the Primorsky region, Russia, September 17, 2023.
Government of Russia’s Primorsky Krai/Handout via REUTERS
Since entering Russia last Tuesday in his first overseas trip in more than four years, Kim had met President Vladimir Putin and visited key military and technology sites, underscoring the countries’ deepening defense cooperation in the face of separate, intensifying confrontations with the U.S. and its allies. Foreign officials and experts have said North Korea could provide badly needed munitions for Moscow’s war on Ukraine in exchange for sophisticated Russian weapons technology that would advance Kim’s nuclear ambitions.
U.N. Security Council resolutions — which Russia, a permanent member, previously endorsed — ban North Korea from exporting or importing any arms. Observers say Russia’s alleged attempts to receive ammunitions and artillery shells from North Korea suggest Moscow’s desperation to refill its arsenal exhausted in the war with Ukraine.
“Military cooperation between North Korea and Russia is illegal and unjust as it contravenes U.N. Security Council resolutions and various other international sanctions,” South Korean President Yoon Suk Yeol said in written responses Sunday to questions from The Associated Press. “The international community will unite more tightly in response to such a move.”
In return for supplying conventional arms to Russia, experts say North Korea would seek Russian economic and food aid but also transfers of technologies to build powerful missiles, a nuclear-propelled submarine and a spy satellite. North Korea has publicly sought to introduce such high-tech weapons systems citing what it called intensifying U.S.-led hostilities.
Earlier Sunday, Kim was in a lighter mode, touring a university and watching a walrus show at a Russian aquarium. Russia’s state media released videos of Kim, accompanied by his top officials, talking with Russian officials through translators at the campus of the Far Eastern Federal University in Russky Island.
At the island’s Primorsky Aquarium, Russia’s largest, Kim watched performances featuring beluga whales, bottlenose dolphins, fur seals and “Misha” the walrus, which he seemed to particularly enjoy, according to Russian media.
Kozhemyako, the Primorye governor, said a delegation from Russia’s Far East would visit North Korea. According to Russian state media, Kozhemyako said he’ll be part of the delegation that will travel with specialists from trade, tourism and agricultural sectors. The exact timing for the visit to North Korea hasn’t been announced.
On Saturday, Kim traveled to an airport near Vladivostok, where Defense Minister Sergei Shoigu and other senior military officials gave him an up-close look at Russia’s strategic bombers and other warplanes. Kim and Shoigu later in the day went to Vladivostok, where they inspected the Admiral Shaposhnikov frigate.
On Friday, Kim visited an aircraft plant in the city of Komsomolsk-on-Amur that produces Russia’s most powerful fighter jets.
The Russian warplanes shown to Kim on Saturday were among the types that have seen action in Ukraine, including the Tu-160, Tu-95 and Tu-22 bombers that have regularly launched cruise missiles. During Kim’s visit, Shoigu and Lt. Gen. Sergei Kobylash, the commander of the Russian long-range bomber force, confirmed for the first time that the Tu-160 had recently received new cruise missiles with a range of more than 6,500 kilometers (over 4,040 miles).
Shoigu, who had met Kim during a rare visit to North Korea in July, also showed Kim another of Russia’s latest missiles, the hypersonic Kinzhal, carried by the MiG-31 fighter jet, that saw its first combat during the war in Ukraine.
North Korea’s state media reported that Kim and Shoigu talked about the regional security environment and exchanged views on “practical issues arising in further strengthening the strategic and tactical coordination, cooperation and mutual exchange between the armed forces of the two countries.”
Kim’s summit with Putin was held at Russia’s main space launch site, a location that pointed to his desire for Russian assistance in his efforts to acquire space-based reconnaissance assets and missile technologies. In recent months, two North Korean launches to send a spy satellite into space ended in failure, and the North vowed to conduct a third attempt in October.
During the meeting with Putin, Kim said his country would offer its “full and unconditional support” for Russia’s fight to defend its security interests, in an apparent reference to the war in Ukraine. Kim invited Putin to visit North Korea at “a convenient time,” and Putin accepted.
It was Kim’s second summit meeting with Putin. The previous meeting took place in Vladivostok in April 2019, two months after Kim’s high-stakes nuclear diplomacy with then U.S. President Donald Trump fell apart during their second summit in Vietnam.
In this pool photo distributed by Sputnik agency, Russia’s President Vladimir Putin (centre L) and North Korea’s leader Kim Jong Un (centre R) visit the Vostochny Cosmodrome in Amur region on September 13, 2023.
Mikhail Metzel | Afp | Getty Images
North Korean leader Kim Jong Un inspected Russian nuclear-capable strategic bombers, hypersonic missiles and warships on Saturday, accompanied by President Vladimir Putin’s defense minister.
A smiling Kim was greeted in Russia’s Knevichi airfield, about 50 km (30) miles from the Pacific city of Vladivostok, by Defence Minister Sergei Shoigu, who saluted Kim. The North Korean leader then inspected a guard of honor.
The United States and South Korea fear the revival of Moscow’s friendship with Pyongyang could give Kim access to some of Russia’s sensitive missile and other technology while helping arm Russia in its war in Ukraine.
Shoigu showed Kim Russia’s strategic bombers – the Tu-160, Tu-95 and Tu-22M3 – which are capable of carrying nuclear weapons and form the backbone of Russia’s nuclear air attack force, Russia’s defense ministry said.
“It can fly from Moscow to Japan and then back again,” Shoigu told Kim of one aircraft.
Kim was shown asking about how the missiles were fired from the aircraft, at times nodding and smiling.
Shoigu showed him the MiG-31I supersonic interceptor aircraft equipped with “Kinzhal” hypersonic missiles. The Kinzhal, or dagger, is an air-launched ballistic missile capable of carrying nuclear or conventional warheads.
It has a reported range of 1,500 to 2,000 km (930-1,240 miles) while carrying a payload of 480 kg (1,100 pounds). It may travel at up to 10 times the speed of sound (12,000 kph, 7,700 mph).
After the aircraft and missiles, Kim inspected the warship of Russia’s Pacific fleet in Vladivostok, where he was due to watch a demonstration by the Russian navy.
South Korea and the United States said on Friday that military cooperation between North Korea and Russia violated U.N. sanctions against Pyongyang and that the allies would ensure there was a price to pay.
Russia has gone out of its way to publicize Kim’s visit and drop repeated hints about the prospect of military cooperation with North Korea, which was formed in 1948 with the backing of the Soviet Union.
For Putin, who says Moscow is locked in an existential battle with the West over Ukraine, courting Kim allows him to needle Washington and its Asian allies while potentially securing a deep supply of artillery for the Ukraine war.
Washington has accused North Korea of providing arms to Russia, which has the world’s biggest store of nuclear warheads, but it is unclear whether any deliveries have been made.
Kim on Friday inspected a Russian fighter jet factory that is under Western sanctions.
He and Putin discussed military matters, the war in Ukraine and deepening cooperation when they met on Wednesday. Putin told reporters Russia was “not going to violate anything”, but would keep developing relations with North Korea.
Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov told reporters there had not been a plan to sign any formal agreements during the visit.
Russian diplomats said Washington had no right to lecture Moscow after the United States had bolstered its allies across the world, including with a visit of a U.S. nuclear-armed ballistic missile submarine to South Korea in July.
North Korean leader Kim Jong Un inspected warplanes, toured an airfield and visited a Pacific Fleet frigate on Saturday as the latest stop on his tour of Russia took him to Vladivostok.
Russian state media reported that Kim had met the Russian Defense Minister Sergei Shoigu at the Knevichi airfield in Vladivostok before both men were accompanied by the commander-in-chief of the Russian Navy, Admiral Nikolai Evmenov, on a visit to the Pacific Fleet frigate Marshal Shaposhnikov.
The North Korean leader was shown the ship’s central command center and its modern missile weapon control systems, the Russian Ministry of Defence said via Telegram.
The Russian defence ministry added that Admiral Evmenov had talked to Kim about the “expanded capabilities of the new control systems, which allow Kalibr sea-based cruise missiles to be effectively used against sea and coastal targets at a distance of more than 1,500 kilometers from the ship.”
Afterwards Kim was gifted a replica of the ship and left a comment in the frigate’s guest book, though the ministry did not reveal what he wrote.
The stop in Vladivostok is Kim’s latest in a tour of Russia and its Far East region that follows his meeting with President Vladimir Putin earlier this week, at which the North Korean leader appeared to endorse Moscow’s war on Ukraine.
The meeting has led to speculation around the potential for some kind of military cooperation between Moscow and Pyongyang.
The ministry said on Saturday that the frigate had been selected to showcase the modernization within the Far East region “which clearly demonstrates the capabilities of the shipbuilding industry.”
Earlier in the morning, Kim and Shoigu had toured the Knevichi airfield in Vladivostok, according to Russian state news agency RIA Novosti, where Kim was shown Russian aircraft including the Tu-160, Tu-95MS and Tu-22M3.
Kim also saw the Su-34, Su-30SM, Su-35S fighter jets along with the Su-25SM3 attack aircraft, RIA added.
The Kinzhal hypersonic missile system and Russia’s Tu-214 long-haul passenger airplane were also on display, it said.
On Friday, North Korean state media reported Kim had been “deeply impressed” by a visit to a Russian aircraft manufacturing plant.
Kim toured facilities for aircraft design and assembly at the Komsomolsk-on-Amur Yuri Gagarin Aviation Plant, where he was struck by “the rich independent potential and modernity of the Russian aircraft manufacturing industry,” the Korean Central News Agency (KCNA) reported.
He met test pilots, climbed aboard a Su-57 fifth-generation fighter jet, and watched a test flight of the airplane, KCNA said.
The facility Kim toured on Friday is Russia’s largest aviation manufacturing plant and builds and develops warplanes for the ministry of defense, including Su-35S and Su-57 fighter jets, according to the Russian state media agency TASS. Kim’s late father, Kim Jong Il, visited it in 2002.
On Friday’s visit Kim “expressed sincere regard for Russia’s aviation technology” and how it had undergone “rapid development, outpacing the outside potential threats, and wished the plant success in its future development,” KCNA reported.
After the tour and a luncheon, Kim left a message in the visitor’s book saying, “Witnessing the rapid development of Russia’s aviation technology and its gigantic potential” before signing it with the date and his name.
According to a Russian government press release on Friday, Deputy Prime Minister Denis Manturov said Moscow saw “the potential for cooperation both in aircraft manufacturing and in other industries” with North Korea.
“This is especially relevant for achieving the tasks our countries face to achieve technological sovereignty,” he said in a statement circulated on Telegram.
While exact details remain scant on what sorts of talks have taken place behind closed doors, observers say it’s clear what each is looking for from the other.
Moscow is desperate for fresh supplies of ammunition and shells as its war with Ukraine drags on – and Pyongyang is believed to be sitting on a stockpile.
Meanwhile, after years of sanctions over its nuclear weapon and missiles program, North Korea is equally in need of everything from energy to food to military technology, all of which Russia has.
When the two leaders met at the Vostochny Cosmodrome in Russia’s Amur Region, a reporter asked Putin whether Russia would help North Korea “launch its own satellites and rockets” – to which Putin responded, “That’s exactly why we came here.”
The Russian president also said Kim “shows great interest in space, in rocketry, and they are trying to develop space.”
Russian President Vladimir Putin held a more than four-hour meeting with North Korean leader Kim Jon Un in Russia’s Far East Wednesday. David Martin has more on what came out of the meeting between the two leaders.
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Seoul, South Korea — North Korean leader Kim Jong Un told Russian President Vladimir Putin on Wednesday that his country offers its “full and unconditional support” for Russia’s “sacred fight” to defend its security interests, in an apparent reference to the war in Ukraine. Kim said North Korea would always stand with Russia on the “anti-imperialist” front.
The allies’ meeting came amid mounting concern that the two heavily-sanctioned countries may strike a deal to share weapons and satellite technology that would give Putin a significant boost in his flailing war in Ukraine, and propel North Korea more quickly toward its goals of launching spy satellites into orbit and obtaining a long-range nuclear missile capability.
Kim called North Korea’s relations with Russia his nation’s “first priority.”
Russia’s President Vladimir Putin shakes hands with North Korea’s leader Kim Jong Un at a meeting at the Vostochny Сosmodrome in the far eastern Amur region, Russia, on September 13, 2023.
Sputnik / Vladimir Smirnov / Pool via REUTERS
The leaders met for about two hours at a remote Siberian rocket launch facility for a summit that underscored how their interests are aligning in the face of their countries’ separate, intensifying confrontations with the United States.
Putin, in his opening remarks, welcomed Kim to Russia and said he was glad to see him. Putin listed economic cooperation, humanitarian issues and the “situation in the region” among the agenda items for their talks.
North Korea test fires more missiles
The meeting came hours after North Korea fired two ballistic missiles toward the sea, extending a highly provocative run in North Korean weapons testing since the start of 2022, as Kim used the distraction caused by Putin’s war on Ukraine to accelerate his weapons development.
South Korea’s Joint Chiefs of Staff said the short-range North Korean missiles flew about 400 miles each.
“We strongly condemn North Korea’s successive ballistic missile launches as a serious act of provocation that undermines the peace and stability of the Korean Peninsula as well as the international community, and a clear violation of U.N. Security Council resolutions, and urge that it be stopped immediately,” the Joint Chiefs said in a statement.
North Korea wants satellites, weapons tech and food
Moscow’s decision to hold the Kim-Putin summit at the cosmodrome, Russia’s most important domestic satellite launch facility, suggested Kim was seeking Russian technical assistance for his efforts to develop military reconnaissance satellites, which he has described as crucial in enhancing the threat of his nuclear-capable missiles. In recent months, North Korea has repeatedly failed to put its first military spy satellite into orbit.
Russia’s President Vladimir Putin and North Korea’s leader Kim Jong Un visit the Vostochny Сosmodrome in the far eastern Amur region of Russia on September 13, 2023.
Sputnik / Mikhail Metzel / Kremlin via REUTERS
Official photos showed Kim accompanied by Pak Thae Song, chairman of North Korea’s space science and technology committee, and navy Adm. Kim Myong Sik, who are linked with North Korean efforts to acquire spy satellites and nuclear-capable ballistic missile submarines, according to South Korea’s Unification Ministry.
Asked whether Russia would help North Korea build and launch satellites, Putin was quoted by Russian state media as saying “that’s why we have come here.”
“The DPRK leader shows keen interest in rocket technology. They’re trying to develop space, too,” he said, using the abbreviation for North Korea’s formal name, the Democratic People’s Republic of Korea. Asked about military cooperation, Putin said before their meeting that he and Kim would “talk about all issues without a rush. There is time.”
In this pool photo distributed by Russia’s Sputnik agency, Russian President Vladimir Putin (second from left) and North Korea’s leader Kim Jong Un (to Putin’s right) look up during their meeting at the Vostochny Cosmodrome in Russia’s Amur region on September 13, 2023.
But as CBS News correspondent Imtiaz Tyab reports, Kim’s impoverished nation needs far more than advanced technology. After years of diplomatic isolation and crippling U.N. sanctions, it’s also looking for allies, food aid, and even cold, hard cash.
Deputy Foreign Minister Andrei Rudenko said Russia could discuss humanitarian aid with the North Korean delegation, according to Russian news agencies.
Putin wants weapons for his Ukraine war
Putin welcomed Kim’s limousine, brought from Pyongyang in the North Korean leader’s special armored train, at the entrance to the launch facility with a handshake that lasted around 40 seconds.
For Putin, the meeting with Kim was an opportunity to refill ammunition stores that the 18-month-old war has drained. North Korea may have tens of millions of aging artillery shells and rockets based on Soviet designs that could give a huge boost to the Russian army in Ukraine, analysts say.
Kim also brought Jo Chun Ryong, a ruling party official in charge of munitions policies who joined him on recent tours of factories producing artillery shells and missiles, according to South Korea.
Kim said his decision to visit Russia four years after his previous visit showed how Pyongyang is “prioritizing the strategic importance” of its relations with Moscow, North Korea’s official news agency said Wednesday.
People at a railway station in Seoul watch a television screen showing a news broadcast with images of Russia’s President Vladimir Putin shaking hands with North Korea’s leader Kim Jong Un during their meeting at the Vostochny Cosmodrome in Russia on Sept. 13, 2023.
JUNG YEON-JE / AFP via Getty Images
An arms deal would violate international sanctions that Russia supported in the past.
Lim Soo-suk, South Korea’s Foreign Ministry spokesperson, said Seoul was maintaining communication with Moscow while closely monitoring Kim’s visit.
“No U.N. member state should violate Security Council sanctions against North Korea by engaging in an illegal trade of arms, and must certainly not engage in military cooperation with North Korea that undermines the peace and stability of the international community,” Lim said at a briefing.
The United States has accused North Korea of providing Russia with arms, including selling artillery shells to the Russian mercenary group Wagner. Both Russian and North Korean officials denied such claims.
The leader of North Korea, Kim Jong Un, shows off his country’s weapons systems to the visiting Minister of Defense of Russia, Sergei Shoigu, in Pyongyang, North Korea, July 27, 2023.
API/Gamma-Rapho/Getty
Speculation about their military cooperation grew after Russia’s defense minister visited North Korea in July. Kim subsequently toured his weapons factories, which experts said had the dual goal of encouraging the modernization of North Korean weaponry and examining artillery and other supplies that could be exported to Russia.
SEOUL, South Korea (AP) — North Korean leader Kim Jong Un arrived at a cosmodrome in Russia’s Far East on Wednesday for a meeting with Russian President Vladimir Putin that underscores how the two leaders’ interests are aligning in the face of their separate, intensifying confrontations with the United States.
Putin welcomed Kim at the entrance to a launch vehicle assembly building. The two men shook hands and Putin said he was “very glad to see” Kim. Kim’s translator thanked Putin for the warm welcome, “despite being busy.” The two leaders will inspect the cosmodrome and then sit down for talks, Russian state media reported.
Hours earlier, North Korea fired two ballistic missiles toward the sea, extending a highly provocative run in North Korean weapons testing since the start of 2022, as Kim used the distraction caused by Putin’s war on Ukraine to accelerate his weapons development.
For Putin, the meeting with Kim is an opportunity to refill ammunition stores that the 18-month-old war has drained. For Kim, it’s a chance to get around crippling U.N. sanctions and years of diplomatic isolation. Kim is expected to seek economic aid and military technology, though an arms deal would violate international sanctions that Russia supported in the past.
South Korea’s Joint Chiefs of Staff didn’t immediately say how far the North Korean missiles flew. Japan’s Coast Guard, citing Tokyo’s Defense Ministry, said the missiles have likely already landed but still urged vessels to watch for falling objects.
Kim’s personal train stopped in Khasan, a station on the Russia-North Korea border, early Tuesday where it was met by a military honor guard and a brass band. He was met on a red carpet by regional Gov. Oleg Kozhemyako and Natural Resources Minister Alexander Kozlov, according to North Korean state media and video posted on social media.
A TV screen shows a report of North Korea’s ballistic missiles with file image during a news program at the Seoul Railway Station in Seoul, South Korea, on Sept. 13, 2023. North Korea fired two ballistic missiles toward the sea Wednesday, as leader Kim Jong Un rolled through Russia on an armored train toward a meeting with President Vladimir Putin. The letters read, “North Korea, fired two ballistic missiles ahead of a meeting between North Korea and Russia.”
Kim said his decision to visit Russia four years after his previous visit showed how Pyongyang is “prioritizing the strategic importance” of its relations with Moscow, North Korea’s official news agency said Wednesday. The Korean Central News Agency said Kim then left for his destination, but it didn’t specify where.
Russian Defense Minister Sergei Shoigu will be part of the Russian delegation, Peskov said.
Kim’s delegation includes Foreign Minister Choe Sun Hui and his top military officials, including Korean People’s Army Marshals Ri Pyong Chol and Pak Jong Chon and Defense Minister Kang Sun Nam.
Other officials identified in North Korean state media photos along his trip could hint at what Kim might seek from Putin and what he would be willing to give.
One is Jo Chun Ryong, a ruling party official in charge of munitions policies who joined him on recent tours of factories producing artillery shells and missiles, according to South Korea’s Unification Ministry.
Also identified in photos were Pak Thae Song, chairman of North Korea’s space science and technology committee, and navy Adm. Kim Myong Sik, who are linked with North Korean efforts to acquire spy satellites and nuclear-capable ballistic missile submarines. Experts say North Korea would struggle to acquire such capabilities without external help, although it’s not clear if Russia would share such sensitive technology.
North Korea may have tens of millions of aging artillery shells and rockets based on Soviet designs that could give a huge boost to the Russian army in Ukraine, analysts say. Kim Jong Un may also seek energy supplies and food. Deputy Foreign Minister Andrei Rudenko said Russia may discuss humanitarian aid with the North Korean delegation, according to Russian news agencies.
Lim Soo-suk, South Korea’s Foreign Ministry spokesperson, said Seoul was maintaining communication with Moscow while closely monitoring Kim’s visit.
“No U.N. member state should violate Security Council sanctions against North Korea by engaging in an illegal trade of arms, and must certainly not engage in military cooperation with North Korea that undermines the peace and stability of the international community,” Lim said at a briefing.
The United States has accused North Korea of providing Russia with arms, including selling artillery shells to the Russian mercenary group Wagner. Both Russian and North Korean officials denied such claims.
Speculation about their military cooperation grew after Shoigu, the Russian defense minister, visited North Korea in July. Kim subsequently toured his weapons factories, which experts said had the dual goal of encouraging the modernization of North Korean weaponry and examining artillery and other supplies that could be exported to Russia.
Associated Press journalists Jim Heintz and Daria Litvinova in Tallinn, Estonia; Aamer Madhani and Matthew Lee in Washington; Edith M. Lederer at the United Nations, Dake Kang and Ng Han Guan in Fangchuan, China; Haruka Nuga and Mari Yamaguchi in Tokyo; and Jon Gambrell in Dubai, United Arab Emirates, contributed.
Kim Jong Un will travel to Russia at the invitation of his Russian counterpart, Vladimir Putin, Pyongyang and Moscow said on Monday, amid warnings from the United States that the two leaders could strike an arms deal.
The US government said last week that such a meeting could take place as part of Russia’s efforts to find new suppliers for weapons to use in its war against Ukraine.
Neither country specified when or where the visit would take place, nor what would be on the agenda of any potential face-to-face. The Kremlin said in a statement Monday that Kim would pay an official visit to Russia “in the coming days,” while North Korean state media said they would “meet and have a talk.”
However, it appears likely that the two leaders will see each other in the far eastern city of Vladivostok, where they met for the first time in April 2019. Putin reportedly arrived in Vladivostok on Monday, Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov said, according to state TV Russia 24. Kim, meanwhile, appears to be on a train heading to Russia, a South Korean government official told CNN.
The visit will be Kim’s first foreign trip since the Covid-19 pandemic. With its borders sealed because of that for much of the past three years, North Korea has only recently begun to relax travel restrictions.
It will also be only Kim’s 10th trip since assuming power in 2011. All of those came in 2018 and 2019, as the North Korean leader engaged in negotiations over his nuclear weapons and missile programs in three meetings with then-US President Donald Trump – one in Singapore, one in Hanoi and one in the demilitarized zone (DMZ) separating North and South Korea.
Kim also made four trips to China over those two years to meet with Chinese leader Xi Jinping. The remaining trip was to the DMZ in 2018 to meet with then-South Korean President Moon Jae-in.
Vladivostok lies 130 km (80 miles) from the border with North Korea.
The North Korea leader is said to prefer traveling in an upscale armored train – as did his father before him – but rail travel accounts for less than half of his foreign trips. Three of this nine trips have been made in planes and two, both to the DMZ, by car.
Russian Defense Minister Sergei Shoigu also visited Pyongyang in July in an attempt to convince it to sell artillery ammunition.
Last Tuesday, White House national security adviser Jake Sullivan warned that North Korea it will “pay a price” if it strikes an arms deal with Russia, though he did not elaborate on these potential repercussions.
North Korea is already under United Nations and US sanctions imposed over Pyongyang’s weapons of mass destruction program.
The potential Putin-Kim meeting could lead to Pyongyang getting its hands on the sort of weapons those sanctions have barred it from accessing for two decades, especially for its nuclear-capable ballistic missile program.
It also comes after more than a year and a half of war in Ukraine has left the Russian military battered, depleted and in need of supplies.
Following Monday’s announcement from both countries, the White House urged North Korea to “not provide or sell arms to Russia.
“As we have warned publicly, arms discussions between Russia and the DPRK are expected to continue during Kim Jong-Un’s trip to Russia,” said National Security Council spokesperson Adrienne Watson in response to Russia and North Korea’s announcement.
The statement also urged the country to “abide by the public commitments that Pyongyang has made to not provide or sell arms to Russia.”
After reports emerged of North Korean arms sales to Russia in September 2022, a North Korean Defense Ministry official said at the time that Pyongyang had “never exported weapons or ammunition to Russia before and we will not plan to export them.”
Biden administration says Vladimir Putin is ‘begging’ Kim Jong Un for weapons due to failures with his Ukraine invasion.
Washington, DC – As Russian President Vladimir Putin prepares to meet North Korean leader Kim Jong Un, the United States has threatened to “aggressively” enforce existing sanctions and add new ones if Pyongyang provides weapons to Moscow for its war in Ukraine.
US State Department spokesperson Matthew Miller said on Monday that the US will continue to “hold accountable” entities that help Russia’s military campaign in Ukraine.
“I will remind both countries that any transfer of arms from North Korea to Russia would be in violation of multiple United Nations Security Council resolutions,” Miller told reporters.
“We, of course, have aggressively enforced our sanctions against entities that fund Russia’s war effort, and we will continue to enforce those sanctions and will not hesitate to impose new sanctions if appropriate.”
He did not specify whether the US would impose penalties on North Korea, Russia or both, saying that the US is monitoring the situation and will “wait and see what the outcome of the meeting is before speculating”.
Both Russia and North Korea are already under heavy US sanctions. Moscow and Pyongyang have confirmed that Putin and Kim are set to meet in the coming days.
On Monday, the Russian president travelled to attend an economic forum in the far eastern Pacific port city of Vladivostok, where he met Kim in 2019.
Miller argued that, by turning to Kim — an “international pariah” — for help, Putin is showing that his full-scale invasion of Ukraine in 2022 was a “strategic failure”.
“There’s no better evidence of that than now. A year and a half later, not only has he failed to achieve his goals on the battlefield, but you see him travelling across his own country, hat in hand, to beg Kim Jong Un for military assistance,” Miller said on Monday.
After failing to capture the Ukrainian capital in the early weeks of the invasion, Russia has limited its war goals to occupying eastern parts of the country. Ukraine launched a counteroffensive earlier this year but has only made modest gains against Russian forces.
“We continue to assess that the Ukrainians are making progress in their counteroffensive, and we have confidence in the ability of their forces,” Miller said.
The US, which provides billions of dollars in aid to Ukraine, has been warning its competitors and adversaries — including China — against helping Russia in its military offensive.
In the past two weeks, Washington has repeatedly urged Pyongyang against selling arms to Moscow.
When asked on Monday why the US is concerned that the Kim-Putin meeting would be about a weapons deal, Miller responded that it is not a “social gathering”.
Russia and North Korea have signalled that their relations have grown closer in recent months. In July, for example, Russia’s Defence Minister Sergei Shoigu visited North Korea — the first time a Russian defence chief had done so since 1991. While there, Shoigu met with Kim to discuss “strategic and tactical collaboration”.
Kim and Putin also exchanged letters last month vowing to bolster cooperation between their two countries.
Last year, the US also accused North Korea of covertly shipping artillery shells to Russia, an allegation that was denied by both Moscow and Pyongyang.
Separately, tensions have been intensifying between Pyongyang and Washington over North Korea’s nuclear programme and increased missile testing. North Korea has framed these missile launches as a defensive response to joint US military drills with South Korea and Japan near the Korean Peninsula.
On the lunch menu Wednesday at the Vostochny cosmodrome in Russia’s far east: Crab dumplings, entrecôte of marbled beef … with a side of deadly weapons.
At the closely watched summit of global outcasts, Russian President Vladimir Putin on Wednesday pledged cooperation with North Korea’s dictator Kim Jong Un.
While Russia was widely believed to be seeking an arms deal with North Korea, the meeting ended without major announcements on weapons, although Putin acknowledged that the issue was on the agenda.
The meeting took place against the backdrop of Russia’s aggression in Ukraine, which has isolated the Kremlin and left it hunting allies — and military equipment — in other ostracized capitals like Pyongyang and Tehran.
“Our friendship has deep roots, and now our country’s first priority is relations with the Russian Federation,” Kim told reporters, after he arrived following a lengthy journey on his armored train for his first trip to Russia since 2019, according to Russian state-owned newswire Ria Novosti.
“Russia has now risen to defend its state sovereignty and defend its security to counter the hegemonic forces that oppose Russia,” the North Korean ruler added, echoing the Kremlin’s propaganda used to justify its aggression in Ukraine.
Military analysts say a potential arms deal between Moscow and Pyongyang could help Russia replenish its depleted stocks, but is unlikely to change the tide of the war.
Asked whether military cooperation was on the agenda, Putin said: “We’ll talk about all the issues slowly. There is time.”
The Russian president, who was accompanied by Defense Minister Sergei Shoigu and Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov for the negotiations, added that Russia would help North Korea build space satellites.
“That’s why we came here. The leader of [North Korea] shows great interest in rocket technology, they are trying to develop space,” Putin said.
Kim has made the development of spy satellites — an important military asset — a priority for his highly militarized country. So far, it has made two attempts to launch a satellite, both of which failed.
The cosmodrome summit lasted over five hours in total and included a dinner consisting of a duck salad, crab dumplings, fish soup, then a choice of sturgeon with mushrooms and potatoes or an entrecôte of marbled beef with grilled vegetables, before ending on a dessert with berries. There was also a selection of Russian wines.
Seoul, South Korea — A North Korean train presumably carrying North Korean leader Kim Jong Un has departed for Russia for a possible meeting with Russian President Vladimir Putin, South Korean media said Monday. Citing unidentified South Korean government sources, the Chosun Ilbo newspaper reported that the train likely left the North Korean capital of Pyongyang Sunday evening and that a Kim-Putin meeting was possible as soon as Tuesday.
The Yonhap news agency and some other media published similar reports. Japan’s Kyodo news agency cited Russian officials as saying that Kim was possibly heading for Russia in his personal train.
South Korea’s Presidential Office and National Intelligence Service didn’t immediately confirm those details.
U.S. officials released intelligence last week that North Korea and Russia were arranging a meeting between their leaders that would take place within this month as they expand their cooperation in the face of deepening confrontations with the United States.
According to U.S. officials, Putin could focus on securing more supplies of North Korean artillery and other ammunition to refill draining reserves and put further pressure on the West to pursue negotiations amid concerns about a protracted war in Ukraine.
In exchange, Kim could seek badly needed energy and food aid and advanced weapons technologies, including those related to intercontinental ballistic missiles, nuclear-capable ballistic missile submarines and military reconnaissance satellites, a senior South Korean official told CBS News last week.
A collection of photos published on Sept. 8, 2023 by North Korea’s state-run media show the country’s leader, Kim Jong Un, at an event marking the launch of what he claimed to be a new “nuclear attack submarine,” at a shipyard in North Korea.
KCNA/North Korean state media
Kim was last seen in public in images published by North Korean state media last week, attending the launch of what Kim lauded as the country’s first “nuclear attack submarine.” He suggested the vessel was capable of launching nuclear-armed ballistic missiles, though analysts quickly cast doubt on the veracity of the claims.
There are concerns that potential Russian technology transfers would increase the threat posed by Kim’s growing arsenal of nuclear weapons and missiles that are designed to target the United States, South Korea, and Japan.
After decades of complicated, hot-and-cold relations, Russia and North Korea have drawn closer to each other since Russia launched its full-scale invasion of Ukraine in February 2022. The bond has been driven by Putin’s need for war help and Kim’s efforts to boost the visibility of his partnerships with traditional allies Moscow and Beijing as he tries to break out of diplomatic isolation and position North Korea as part of a united front against Washington.
The United States has been accusing North Korea since last year of providing Russia with arms, including artillery shells sold to the Russian mercenary group Wagner. Both Russian and North Korean officials have denied such claims. But speculation about the countries’ military cooperation grew after Russian Defense Minister Sergei Shoigu made a rare visit to North Korea in July, when Kim invited him to an arms exhibition and a massive military parade in the capital where he showcased ICBMs designed to target the U.S. mainland.
The leader of North Korea, Kim Jong Un, shows off his country’s weapons systems to the visiting Minister of Defense of Russia, Sergei Shoigu, in Pyongyang, North Korea, July 27, 2023.
API/Gamma-Rapho/Getty
Following Shoigu’s visit, Kim toured North Korea’s weapons factories, including a facility producing artillery systems where he urged workers to speed up the development and large-scale production of new kinds of ammunition. Experts say Kim’s visits to the factories likely had a dual goal of encouraging the modernization of North Korean weaponry and examining artillery and other supplies that could possibly be exported to Russia.
Some analysts say a meeting between Kim and Putin would be more about symbolic gains than substantial military cooperation.
Russia — which has always closely guarded its most important weapons technologies, even from key allies such as China — could be unwilling to make major technology transfers with North Korea for what is likely to be limited war supplies transported over a small rail link between the countries, they say.
North Korea launched a new “Korean-style tactical nuclear attack submarine” on Wednesday, according to the state-run Korean Central News Agency (KCNA), during a ceremony attended the country’s leader Kim Jong Un.
The new submarine “will perform its combat mission as one of core underwater offensive means of the naval force of the DPRK,” Kim said during the ceremony according to KCNA. DPRK stands for the Democratic People’s Republic of Korea.
The submarine, named “Hero Kim Kun Ok,” would herald “the beginning of a new chapter for bolstering up the naval force of the DPRK,” KCNA reported.
“There is no room to step back in the drive for the expansion of the naval vessel-building industry as it is the top priority task to be fulfilled without fail,” Kim said according to KCNA.
The announcement comes after North Korea said it had simulated a nuclear missile attack over the weekend to warn the United States of “nuclear war danger.”
The simulation was in response to joint military exercises conducted by the United States and South Korea, earlier in the week, KCNA reported at the time.
The US-South Korea live fire exercises, based on a counterattack against invading forces, began on August 31.
US and South Korean Presidents had pledged to step up military cooperation following a May summit meeting in Seoul, and after North Korea conducted more than a dozen missiles tests this year, compared to only four tests in 2020, and eight in 2021.
North Korea is set to celebrate the 75th anniversary of the country’s founding on September 9.
Kim Jong Un will visit Russia “in the coming days,” the Kremlin announced Monday following speculation about an upcoming visit by the North Korean leader.
Kim’s visit will take place “at the invitation of Russian President Vladimir Putin,” the statement said.
