Kim Jong Un Has Many Reasons to Meet With Vladimir Putin
SEOUL—For more than four years, Kim Jong Un has stayed inside his country’s borders, focused on a deadly virus, a stifled economy and a corrupt elite. Now, the North Korean leader, U.S. officials said, could be planning his first foreign trip to Russia for a meeting with Vladimir Putin.
Talks could advance between the two countries about ammunition sales that could replenish Russia’s stockpile for its Ukraine war. U.S. officials say the get-together between Kim and Putin could occur next week in the eastern Russian city of Vladivostok, which was the site of the two leaders’ first and only meeting in April 2019.
Russia could potentially provide aid to North Korea, which is suffering its worst food shortage in decades, after the impoverished nation kept its borders shut during the Covid-19 pandemic. Kim’s regime can also use his return to overseas statesmanship in its propaganda to show it has moved on from pandemic isolation. And with coordination deepening between Washington, Tokyo and Seoul, any military strengthening with Moscow could serve as a reminder that the isolated regime has powerful friends.
“North Korea feels really threatened," said Artyom Lukin, an expert on Russia-Asia relations and professor at the Far Eastern Federal University. “Kim Jong Un understands well how weak North Korea is, even with its nuclear weapons, vis-à-vis the U.S. alliance with South Korea and Japan." On Monday, South Korea’s spy agency told lawmakers that Russia had also proposed conducting naval exercises with North Korea and China during a recent visit to Pyongyang by Russian Defense Minister Sergei Shoigu.
Read more on livemint.com
