Later this month, there are apparently talks between the leaders in Vladivostok.
According to the New York Times and Associated Press, who cited US and “allied” officials, North Korean leader Kim Jong-un intends to visit Russia this month and have talks with President Vladimir Putin.
The NYT reports that Kim aims to go to Vladivostok, a city on the Pacific Coast of Russia, “probably by armoured train,” where both presidents would attend the annual Eastern Economic Forum (EEF), slated for September 10–13. Kim also intends to visit a Russian naval facility, according to the NYT. Both Moscow and Pyongyang have remained silent on the subject.
Kim and Putin last spoke in Vladivostok in 2019, despite Kim rarely leaving the country and typically travelling by train.
During his unexpected trip to Pyongyang in July, Russian Defence Minister Sergey Shoigu joined Kim for a military parade commemorating the 70th anniversary of the end of the 1950–1953 Korean War. Later, Shoigu declared that Moscow was willing to conduct cooperative exercises with North Korea. The Kremlin further claimed that Shoigu gave Kim “a personal message” from Putin.
According to sources quoted by the NYT, Kim intended to talk about “the potential of providing Russia with additional weapons for its war in Ukraine and other forms of military cooperation.” The news followed last year’s US assertion that North Korea was covertly transferring shells to Russia. Both the Kremlin and later Aleksandr Matsegora, Russia’s envoy to Pyongyang, refuted the accusations.
Deliveries of US-made F-16 fighter jets to Ukraine, according to North Korea, might start “a nuclear war.” Additionally, Pyongyang has charged the US with engineering both the NATO-Russia impasse and the situation in Ukraine.
