The luxury armored train carrying North Korean leader Kim Jong Un has apparently crossed into Russia ahead of a summit with President Vladimir Putin that the US said would focus on supplying weapons for Moscow’s war on Ukraine.
Kim’s train arrived in the Russian border city of Khasan where a welcome ceremony was held, Japan TV network JNN reported Tuesday, citing a Russian regional official. From there, it’s about 150 kilometers (95 miles) to Vladivostok, where Kim is likely to meet Putin for the first time in more than four years.
The meeting marks the first time Kim has left the Korean Peninsula since his first and only summit so far with Putin in 2019, also in Vladivostok. Photos released by North Korean state media show that Kim is traveling with his foreign minister, top military officials and senior cadres in his weapons sector, Yonhap News Agency of South Korea reported, indicating that munitions transfers could be on the summit agenda.
While state media in North Korea and Russia said the two leaders would meet, there has been no definitive schedule set for the summit, which could likely take place on Tuesday or Wednesday. Kim stopped in Khasan for his 2019 summit, where he was greeted at the station by young women in folk costumes with offerings of the traditional Russian welcome of bread and salt.
The US for months has accused North Korea of supplying munitions to help Putin’s war in Ukraine, something Moscow and Pyongyang have denied. It said again last week that arms negotiations between Russia and North Korea are “actively advancing.”
The most obvious items Pyongyang has and Moscow needs are artillery shells and rockets that Moscow can use in the Soviet-era weaponry it has pushed into action in Ukraine.
Leave a Reply