Moscow, Russia:
What should the world look forward to when North Korean leader Kim Jong Un meets Kremlin chief Vladimir Putin in Russia in the coming days?
The Kremlin said on Monday that Putin had invited Kim Jong to Russia for what will be the North Korean’s second known visit to Russia and his first trip abroad since the COVID pandemic.
Who is Kim Jong-un with?
If he travels with a full military delegation, that could give an indication of the nature of the talks. It is also interesting who he meets besides Putin, such as Defense Minister Sergei Shoigu, who visited North Korea in July.
The United States has expressed concern about what it calls ongoing arms negotiations between the two countries, with White House national security adviser Jake Sullivan urging Kim “not to supply weapons to Russia that will ultimately kill Ukrainians.”
The United States has accused North Korea of supplying weapons to Russia, but it is unclear whether any deliveries have taken place. Both Russia and North Korea have denied these claims but pledged to deepen defense cooperation.
What does Vladimir Putin say?
Analysts say North Korea has vast stockpiles of artillery shells, missiles and small arms ammunition that could help Russia replenish the vast stockpiles it has consumed in more than 18 months of war in Ukraine, although their quality and capability country to mass produce more is unclear. .
Workers could also be something Russia is interested in, amid record-low unemployment. Before United Nations Security Council resolutions banned it in 2019, Russia was estimated to harbor nearly 20,000 North Koreans, according to a report by the Association of Asian Studies.
In return, Russia could offer grain, oil and military technology, while Kim wants to develop capabilities such as nuclear-powered submarines and military reconnaissance satellites.
North Korea’s latest Hwasong-18 intercontinental ballistic missile – the first ICBM to use solid rocket fuel – has reignited the debate over possible Russian ties to the nuclear-armed state’s dramatic missile development.
Everything Kim Jong-un says about nuclear weapons
In recent years, the UN Security Council has been divided over how to deal with North Korea. Russia and China have said more sanctions will not help and want such measures to be eased.
Whatever else comes out of the meeting, the summit itself is a sign of support for any country facing international sanctions and pressure.
Putin said after his first face-to-face talks with Kim in 2019 that proposed U.S. security guarantees would likely not be enough to convince Pyongyang to halt its nuclear program.
In 2019, Putin described Kim Jong as “fairly open” and as “thoughtful” and “interesting.”
What do Beijing and Washington say?
Communist North Korea was formed in the early days of the Cold War with the support of the Soviet Union. North Korea later fought the South and its US and United Nations allies to a stalemate in the 1950–53 Korean War, with extensive assistance from China and the Soviet Union.
North Korea was heavily dependent on Soviet aid for decades, and the collapse of the Soviet Union in the 1990s contributed to a deadly famine in the North.
Pyongyang’s leaders have often tried to use Beijing and Moscow to balance each other out. Kim Jong initially had a relatively cool relationship with Russia and China, both of which joined the United States in imposing strict sanctions on North Korea over its nuclear tests.
Everything quirky
Both Putin and Kim Jong know how to make global headlines.
In 2019, the two leaders attended a gala dinner where they toasted each other and watched traditional music numbers and dance performed by Russian artists.
The songs include the Russian classical song “Black Eyes” and a Korean song called “The Great Commander”.
The two men also exchanged gifts. Kim Jong gave Putin a traditional Korean sword, while Russian leader Kim Jong gave a saber and a tea set suitable for use on his armored train.
Kim Jong’s rare foreign trips have occasionally produced more candid moments than what leaks from the North’s tightly controlled state media.
During his 2019 summit with US President Donald Trump in the Vietnamese capital Hanoi, Kim spoke to foreign journalists for the first time during a photo opportunity.
That summit, for which he traveled for days by train across China, also revealed more interactions between Kim and his sister, Kim Yo Jong. TV footage showed the North Korean leader taking a cigarette break at a train station in the southern Chinese city of Nanning as Yo Jong approached him with a crystal ashtray in both hands.
At an Inter-Korean summit in 2018, 12 male bodyguards in dark suits made international headlines after surrounding Kim’s Mercedes-Benz car and running alongside.
(Except for the headline, this story has not been edited by NDTV staff and is published from a syndicated feed.)