Kim Jong Un on his way to meet Putin in Russia: Should the world be worried?

After the highly successful G20 Summit in New Delhi, comes another meeting that is bound to grab headlines and eyeballs. North Korean leader Kim Jong Un has reportedly started his journey to Russia for a summit with President Vladimir Putin. The travel comes after the United States had said last week that the two leaders would soon meet in Russia.

The meeting between the two world leaders, who many dub as dictators, point to a significant deepening of military ties between Russia and North Korea as Moscow’s occupying forces try to contain a counteroffensive mounted by Ukraine.

Where will Kim meet Putin? What will the two leaders discuss and what’s the significance of a growing friendship between the two mean for the world? We give you all the answers and more.

A rare visit

South Korean broadcaster YTN was the first to report that Kim had departed for Russia on Monday, citing an unnamed senior government source. Reports state that the North Korean leader is on board a special armoured train, which he often uses for foreign visits.

Earlier, it was reported that Kim would travel from Pyongyang, probably by armoured train, to Vladivostok, on the east coast of Russia, where he would meet with Putin, officials said. Kim could possibly go to Moscow, though that is not certain.

The meeting is expected to take place as early as Tuesday local time. The New York Times had earlier reported that Kim also plans to visit Pier 33, where naval ships from Russia’s Pacific fleet dock. There are also talks about Kim visiting the Vostochny Cosmodrome, a space launch centre. Incidentally, it was the same spot where Putin met Alexander Lukashenko, the president of Belarus, in April 2022.

The visit will indeed be significant as the North Korean leader rarely makes a visit out of his country. Kim met with former US president Donald Trump in Singapore in 2018 and in Hanoi in 2019. He has also travelled to China, and in 2019 he met with Putin in Vladivostok. This was also probably the last time Kim travelled abroad.

Last week, commenting on the visit, United States National Security Council spokeswoman Adrienne Watson had said that it would be part of ongoing discussions over weapons sales between the two countries.

“As we have warned publicly, arms negotiations between Russia and the DPRK are actively advancing,” Watson said. “We have information that Kim Jong Un expects these discussions to continue, to include leader-level diplomatic engagement in Russia,” she added.

The discussions on arms and munitions between Russia and North Korea – both sanctioned by the US – comes when Moscow has been seeking weaponry from other countries in their ongoing war against Ukraine. Putin wants Kim to agree to send Russia artillery shells and anti-tank missiles, and Kim would like Russia to provide North Korea with advanced technology for satellites and nuclear-powered submarines, the officials said. Kim is also seeking food aid for his impoverished nation.

Putin and Kim’s budding bromance

In recent times, Putin and Kim’s friendship has blossomed and the two countries have shared better relations. The US reports that Russia will persuade North Korea for weapons for its ongoing war in Ukraine, a concern for the West and Kyiv itself.

White House officials earlier reported that arms negotiations between the two countries had been advancing with National Security Council spokesman John Kirby being quoted as saying that Putin and Kim have also have exchanged letters pledging to increase their bilateral cooperation.

Kirby added that while the letters were “more at the surface level”, talks on a weapons sale were advancing.

In fact, this visit to Russia comes just months after Sergei Shoigu, the Russian defence minister, travelled to Pyongyang in July. It was the first time that a Russian defence minister had visited the country since the fall of the Soviet Union in 1991. During that visit Kim had taken Shoigu to an exhibition of weaponry and military equipment that included ballistic missiles banned by the United Nations.

Shoigu had also told Russian media that there were plans afoot for Russia and North Korea to hold joint war games. “Why not, these are our neighbours,” Russia’s Interfax news agency quoted Shoigu as saying. “There’s an old Russian saying: ‘You don’t choose your neighbours, and it’s better to live with your neighbours in peace and harmony’.”

When asked about the possibility of joint exercises between the two countries, he said they were “of course” being discussed, the agency said.

How this matters to the world

According to the US, during the war Russia has received support from Iran and North Korea. Iran has sent drones and artillery and late last year North Korea delivered infantry rockets.

In addition Chinese state-owned defence companies have sent technology and equipment, but US officials say they have seen no signs so far that China has provided weapons or lethal military aid to Russia.

Also read: North Korea unveils new nuclear warheads: How the country has expanded its arsenal

America had said that last year North Korea had delivered infantry rockets and missiles into Russia for use by Wagner forces. Now, Kirby ha said that the new deal being discussed would provide significant ammunition for different types of weapons systems, including artillery.

“Under these potential deals Russia would receive significant quantities and multiple types of munitions form the DPRK, which the Russian military plans to use in Ukraine. These potential deals could also include the provision of raw materials that would assist Russia’s defence industrial base,” Kirby said.

Commenting on the strengthening of the Russia-North Korea alliance, 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.”

Retired US Army General Mark Hertling told CNN that the weapons aid from North Korea will most likely not have a “great deal of significance” in Putin’s war in Ukraine. “You opened this saying these are two of Washington’s biggest rivals,” Hertling told CNN. “They’re also two desperate leaders of the world’s most noted pariah states.”

“This will generate a lot of attention,” Hertling added. “It’s showing that Putin is scrambling for help.”

John Everard, who served as UK ambassador to North Korea between 2006 and 2008 had an interesting take on the matter. He told BBC that publicity around the possible visit was a “’strong reason why the visit is now unlikely to take place”.

“Kim Jong Un is completely paranoid about his personal security. He goes to great lengths to keep his movements secret and if it’s known that he’s planning to go to Vladivostok to meet President Putin, he’s likely just to cancel the whole thing,” he said.

Pyongyang knows that Moscow is “desperate” for munitions and the price that North Korea will ask for them will be “eye-wateringly high”, he added.

With inputs from agencies