Kim Jong-un in Russia for talks with Vladimir Putin

Kim Jong-un was in Russia on Tuesday night to meet Vladimir Putin for what the US warned was a possible arms deal for Moscow’s war in Ukraine.

North Korean leader Kim Jong-un waves as he departs by train from Pyongyang for a visit to Russia. Picture: AFP

Kim Jong-un was in Russia on Tuesday night to meet Vladimir Putin for what the US warned was a possible arms deal for Moscow’s war in Ukraine.

Flanked by uniformed defence officials, North Korean state media images showed an unsmiling Kim waving from the doorway of his heavily-armoured private train with green and gold livery as it departed Pyongyang station.

Russian state news agency Ria Novosti later confirmed Kim’s train had crossed the border into the Primorsky region, with images showing a train with dark green carriages being pulled along a track by a Russian Railways locomotive.

Kim will meet Mr Putin in far-east Russia later this week, Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov said, possibly on the sidelines of the Eastern Economic Forum in Vladivostok, the city closest to the North Korea-Russia border.

Experts say Moscow will likely seek artillery shells and antitank missiles from North Korea, which wants advanced satellite and ­nuclear-powered submarine technology in return.

“Obviously, as neighbours, our countries also co-operate in sensitive areas that should not be the subject of public disclosure and ­announcements. This is perfectly normal for neighbouring states,” Mr Peskov said.

Washington has said North Korea would “pay a price” if it supplied Moscow with weapons for its war in Ukraine.

“In building our relations with our neighbours, including North Korea, the important thing for us is the interests of our two countries, not Washington’s warnings,” Mr Peskov said.

Official Korean Central News Agency images showed Kim being given a “warm send-off” complete with red carpet and honour guard at Pyongyang station.

Kim Jong-un receives a send-off before deparing for Russia. Picture: AFP

The dictator has been steadfast in his support for Moscow’s Ukraine invasion, including, Washington says, supplying rockets and missiles. In July, Mr Putin hailed Pyongyang’s “firm support for special military operations against Ukraine”.

But Moscow and Pyongyang have denied North Korea has or will supply arms to Russia, which has eaten into its vast stockpiles of munitions fighting since it invaded Ukraine early last year.

Kim has not travelled outside the North since the start of the pandemic. His last proper overseas trip was in 2019, also to Russia to meet Mr Putin.

Moscow, a historical ally of Pyongyang, was a crucial backer of the isolated country for decades and their ties go back to the founding of North Korea 75 years ago.

“Given his interest in exploiting ‘new Cold War’ geopolitics and a preference for travelling by train for personal security, it is unsurprising Kim chose Russia as his first post-pandemic destination,” said Leif-Eric Easley, a professor at Ewha University in Seoul.

“North Korea has the crude ammunition that Putin needs for his illegal war in Ukraine, while Moscow has submarine, ballistic, and satellite technologies that could help Pyongyang leapfrog engineering challenges it suffers under economic sanctions.”

Kim Jong-un was last out of the countgry when he met Vladimir Putin on Russky island in the far-eastern Russian port of Vladivostok in Aprill 2019. Picture: AFP

Even if an arms deal does result from the Putin-Kim summit, it is unlikely either side will make public the full details due to the “serious international legal violations involved”, Professor Easley said.

The US described Mr Putin on Tuesday as desperate in seeking a meeting with Kim.

“Having to travel across the length of his own country to meet with an international pariah to ask for assistance in a war that he ­expected to win in the opening month, I would characterise it as him begging for assistance,” State Department spokesman Matthew Miller said.

Washington has said Russia could use weapons from North Korea to attack Ukrainian food supplies and heating infrastructure heading into winter to “try to conquer territory that belongs to another sovereign nation”.

Andrei Lankov, a North Korea expert at Kookmin University in Seoul, said a Putin-Kim summit was part of Moscow’s “gentle diplomatic blackmail” of Seoul because Russia did not want South Korea to supply weapons to Kyiv.

Seoul is a major arms exporter and has sold tanks to Kyiv’s ally Poland, but longstanding domestic policy bars it from selling weapons into active conflicts.

“The major worry of the Russian government now is a possible shipment of the South Korean ­ammunition to Ukraine, not just one shipment but a lot of shipments,” Professor Lankov said.

AFP