Russian President Vladimir Putin shakes hands with North Korean leader Kim Jong-un in a Russian government handout image during a meeting at the Vostochny Сosmodrome in the far eastern Amur region, Russia, on Sept. 13.SPUTNIK/Reuters
North Korean leader Kim Jong-un said Wednesday that Russian President Vladimir Putin has his full backing in the “sacred fight” Moscow is waging “against the hegemonic forces” of the West.
Mr. Kim arrived Wednesday at the Vostochny Cosmodrome, a remote spaceport in Russia’s Far East, after a days-long journey by armoured train. He was greeted by a smiling Mr. Putin, who shook his hand and said, “Very glad to have you,” before taking his guest on a tour of Russia’s most advanced space launch site.
Mr. Kim praised Russia for having “risen to a sacred fight to protect its sovereignty and security” and said Pyongyang would “always support the decisions of President Putin and the Russian leadership” and unite with Moscow “in the fight against imperialism.”
For North Korea, that unity is expected to mean supplying Russia with much-needed armaments – artillery shells, anti-tank weapons and missiles – for the war in Ukraine, while receiving support for its pandemic- and sanctions-battered economy in return.
It could also mean help with North Korea’s own space program, one analysts have long seen as cover for rocket development. Touring the cosmodrome Wednesday, Mr. Kim showed “great interest in rocket engineering,” Mr. Putin told reporters. He suggested Vostochny could be used for future North Korean satellite launches.
The two leaders shared a state dinner alongside other senior officials from both sides, after which Mr. Kim began the slow journey by train back to North Korea, according to Russian state media.
In the past, Russia has supported multiple United Nations Security Council resolutions sanctioning North Korea over its nuclear and missile programs, most recently in 2017, after the maiden launch of the Hwasong-15 intercontinental ballistic missile (ICBM), which is capable of striking targets in North America.
On Wednesday the Kremlin denied any intention of violating the UN sanctions but said they would “not hinder Russia’s relations with North Korea.” Spokesman Dmitry Peskov said Mr. Putin and Mr. Kim discussed the “full range of relations,” including military-to-military, though they did not sign any new agreements.
With the invasion of Ukraine faltering, Moscow has found itself isolated on the world stage and seeking support wherever it can. According to Western officials, Mr. Putin has also lobbied China to provide arms, but Beijing refused to do so, though some so-called “dual use” materials from private Chinese companies have ended up in Russian hands.
This year has seen a strengthening of ties between North Korea and Russia. In March, Moscow blocked Security Council sanctions over the launch of a Hwasong-17, an updated version of the North Korean ICBM, and four months later dispatched Defence Minister Sergei Shoigu to Pyongyang for celebrations marking the 70th anniversary of the Korean War armistice, where Mr. Shoigu discussed “strategic and tactical collaboration” with Mr. Kim.
Speaking Tuesday, U.S. State Department spokesperson Matthew Miller said “any transfer of arms from North Korea to Russia would violate multiple United Nations Security Council resolutions,” adding that Washington “will not hesitate to take action to hold those accountable if necessary.”
How successful any retaliatory measures would be is unclear: Russia has managed to overcome sanctions and export controls imposed since the invasion of Ukraine to expand missile production beyond prewar levels, The New York Times reported Wednesday, citing U.S., European and Ukrainian officials. North Korea, too, has largely shrugged off decades of intense international pressure to continue to build up its nuclear and ballistic missile programs.
As Mr. Kim and Mr. Putin were preparing to meet Wednesday, North Korea fired two short-range ballistic missiles into the sea off its east coast. Analysts said the tests, carried out while Mr. Kim was outside the country, may have been intended to demonstrate North Korea’s new, more devolved launch process, in which a surrogate “would have the authority to launch a nuclear counterstrike on his behalf” if Mr. Kim is killed or incommunicado, said Michael Madden, a North Korea expert at the Washington-based Stimson Center.
Last year, Pyongyang passed a new law requiring a nuclear attack to be “launched automatically” if South Korea or another country were to carry out a so-called decapitation attack targeting Mr. Kim and other top leaders.
Tensions have been increasing between the two Koreas in recent months, after neither side was able to build on diplomatic breakthroughs in 2018, which saw multiple meetings between Mr. Kim and then-South Korean president Moon Jae-in. Pyongyang has ramped up weapons testing and responded angrily to drills carried out by South Korea and the United States.
For its part, Seoul has taken a harder line toward the North under President Yoon Suk Yeol, who has also improved ties with former colonial power Japan. In April, in response to growing calls in South Korea for the country to pursue its own nuclear program, Washington agreed to periodically deploy nuclear-armed submarines to the region to act as a deterrent against North Korean attacks.
If Pyongyang does begin supporting Russia’s war in Ukraine, South Korean media have suggested Seoul could increase aid to Kyiv, which has so far been largely limited to non-lethal materials. South Korea is the world’s ninth-biggest arms exporter, according to the Stockholm International Peace Research Institute.
During a meeting with Chinese Premier Li Qiang last week, Mr. Yoon called on Beijing to do more to curb North Korea’s nuclear and missile programs. China is a member of the UN Security Council and signed off on previous sanctions, though, like Russia, it has blocked recent attempts to expand such measures.
On Tuesday, Chinese Foreign Affairs Ministry spokesperson Mao Ning said Mr. Yoon and Mr. Li had discussed “Korean Peninsula issues” and that Beijing “reiterated its principled position of supporting reconciliation and co-operation” between both sides. Regarding Mr. Kim’s trip to Russia, this was “something between their two countries,” she said.
China and North Korea “are friendly neighbours connected by mountains and rivers,” Ms. Mao added. “Our bilateral relations are making sound progress.”
With files from Mark MacKinnon and Reuters