After G20 Summit, Kim-Putin meet captures global attention

China, Russia and the DMZ: all of Kim Jong Un's foreign trips

After the recently-concluded G20 summit in New Delhi, which provided a stage for the world leaders to meet, another upcoming meeting has attracted global attention. North Korean leader Kim Jong Un has reportedly arrived in Russia on September 12 to meet President Valdimir Putin. The trip comes amid the US threatening to “aggressively” enforce existing sanctions and add new ones if Pyongyang provides weapons to Moscow for the Ukraine War. Both leaders may meet in Vladivostok in eastern Russia where Putin is attending an economic forum.

Also read: North Korea's Kim Jong Un in Russia for Vladimir Putin talks as US warns on arms deal

This is Kim’s first trip abroad since Covid-19 pandemic. He had visited Russia in 2019, when he had met Putin for the first time amid the crisis over North Korea’s nuclear programme and the failed dialogue between Pyongyang and Washington. The meeting hints at the deepening of military ties between Russia and North Korea. According to a report by Time, Putin is interested in meeting Kim to discuss potential arms deals as the war between Russia and Ukraine continues. In exchange, North Korea may ask for food, aid, and other raw materials. It may also seek advanced weaponry for its nuclear-capable ballistic missile programme.

Also read: Vladimir Putin calls for closer cooperation with North Korea in message to Kim Jong Un: Kremlin

The Time report stated that North Korea has millions of compatible Soviet-era artillery shells and rockets that it could provide Russia. Moscow and Kyiv have been facing a shortage of ammunition during the course of the Ukraine war. US National Security Council official John Kirby had earlier stated that arms transfer negotiations between North Korea and Russia are “actively advancing”. Kim’s visit to Russia comes just months after Sergei Shoigu, the Russian defence minister, travelled to Pyongyang in July.

According to Russian state media TASS, Kremlin spokesperson Dmitry Peskov said bilateral relations between the nations will be on agenda in the meeting. “The talks will also touch upon sensitive areas,” he is reported to have said.

Why should the world worry?

Experts feel warming of ties are a sign that an increasingly isolated Russia has been forced to turn to pariah states for military aid.

“It says a lot that Russia is having to turn to a country like North Korea to seek to bolster its defense capacity in a war that it expects to be over in a week,” White House national security adviser Jake Sullivan told the Associated Press.

Commenting on the strengthening of the Russia-North Korea realtionship, Jean H Lee, a recent senior fellow on the Koreas at the Wilson Centre, had told New York Times, “The strengthening of the Russia-North Korea alliance comes at an opportune time for two countries with very few allies and a shared adversary in the United States. It’s the resurrection of a traditional alliance that serves the strategic interests of both Putin and Kim.”

Nuclear threats

Experts are also worried that Russia could share advanced nuclear, submarine, and missile technologies with North Korea in exchange for the artillery.

“This meeting is a very significant development if it goes forward,” Leif-Eric Easley, professor of international studies at Ewha Womans University in Seoul, told CNN. “Russia has the military technology that Kim wants for his illegal satellite launch and nuclear weapons delivery programmes.”