In this photo provided by the North Korean government, North Korean leader Kim Jong Un responds as Russian President Vladimir Putin ejects him from the Vostochny Cosmodrome on the outskirts of the city of Tsiolkovsky, about 200 kilometers (125 miles) from the city of Blagoveshchensk. in the far south of South Korea. East Amur Region, Russia, Wednesday, Sept. 13, 2023. Freelance journalists were denied access to the canopy on the occasion depicted in this symbol distributed through the North Korean government. The content of this symbol is as provided and may not be independently verified. The Korean watermark on the symbol provided through the font reads: “KCNA,” which is the abbreviation for Korean Central News Agency. (Korean Central News Agency/Korea News Service via AP)
SEOUL, South Korea (AP) — North Korean leader Kim Jong Un stopped in a Russian Far Eastern city Friday to visit a factory that builds the country’s most complex fighter jets, hinting at his interest in complicated weapons as the United States and others have warned. Moscow and Pyongyang oppose the conclusion of agreements on the prohibited transport of weapons.
Kim’s visits to Russian generation and weapons sites and his meetings with President Vladimir Putin have raised the hypothesis that he would send ammunition to Russia for his war efforts in Ukraine in exchange for receiving complex weapons or generation from Russia as the two countries deepen their ties. isolated and sanctioned in separate confrontations with the West.
Russian news firm RIA Novosti released a video showing Kim’s armored exercise arriving at a station in the city of Komsomolsk-on-Amur and Kim’s convoy leaving the station shortly after. News firm TASS said Kim and local Russian officials were on their way to a factory that produces Su-35 and Su-57 fighter jets.
Kim then plans to travel to Vladivostok to see Russia’s Pacific Fleet, a university and other facilities, Putin told Russian media after his summit with Kim.
Experts say that in exchange for Putin filling up his war supplies, Kim would seek to have Russia modernize its air force and navy, which are inferior to those of its Korean rival, while Kim has devoted much of his own resources to his nuclear weapons program.
The summit between Kim and Putin took place this week at the Vostochny Cosmodrome, Russia’s main national liberation center. North Korea has struggled to send an operational spy satellite into space to monitor the movements of the U. S. and South Korean militaries.
Asked if Russia would get North Korea to get satellites, Putin replied: “That’s why we got here. (Kim) shows a willing interest in rocket technology. They are also looking to expand the space,” according to Russian state media.
Putin, for his part, would like to get ammunition, artillery shells and even ballistic missiles from North Korea to fill its stockpile of weapons depleted in the second year of Russia’s war in Ukraine, foreign experts say.
Since last year, the U. S. has accused North Korea of supplying Russia with ammunition, artillery shells and rockets, most of them likely copies of Soviet-era munitions. South Korean officials have said North Korean weapons provided to Russia have already been used in Ukraine.
On Thursday night, the national security advisers of the United States, South Korea and Japan spoke by phone and expressed “serious concerns” about long-term arms deals between Russia and North Korea. They warned that Russia and North Korea would “pay a transparent price. “” if they reached such agreements, according to South Korea’s presidential office.
The White House said the three national security advisers noted that any North Korean arms exports to Russia would directly violate several U. N. Security Council resolutions, adding to resolutions that Russia, a permanent member of the U. N. council, voted to adopt. cooperation throughout the denuclearization of the Korean Peninsula, according to a White House statement.
South Korea’s Unification Minister Kim Yung-ho warned on Thursday that conceivable arms transfers between the North and Russia would require stronger responses from South Korea, the United States and Japan, which have stepped up trilateral security cooperation to tackle regional threats.
Some analysts question the extent to which Russia would be willing to share its heavily guarded generation of high-tech weapons with North Korea in exchange for its traditional weapons. But others argue that Russia would do so because of its urgent desire to fill its depleted reserves.
Putin told reporters that Russia and North Korea had “many attractive projects” in areas such as shipping and agriculture and that Moscow was offering humanitarian aid to its neighbor. But he avoided talking about military cooperation, saying only that Russia was complying. with sanctions prohibiting North Korea’s procurement of weapons.
North Korean state media said on Thursday that Kim had invited Putin to stop in North Korea at an “opportune time. “Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov later said Putin had accepted the invitation and that Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov hoped to stop in North Korea in October.
At Wednesday’s summit, Kim pledged his “full and unconditional support” for Putin in what he described as a “fair fight against hegemonic forces to protect their sovereign rights, security and interests,” referring to the war in Ukraine.
Much of the data about Kim’s visit to Russia comes from the official media of both countries. North Korean state media did not provide an update on Kim’s activities on Friday. They periodically report on Kim’s activities the day after the event, supposedly to align with North Korean propaganda. He wants to glorify Kim.
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