North Korea's Kim Jong Un visits military aviation plant in Russia's industrial city

Following his meeting with President Vladimir Putin, North Korean leader Kim Jong Un travelled to a Russian industrial city on Friday to tour a military aviation facility, according to Russian media.

Historic allies Russia and North Korea are both subject to a slew of global sanctions, Moscow for its involvement in the Ukraine crisis and Pyongyang for its nuclear tests, with Kim’s visit raising concerns among Kyiv’s friends about future military deals.

Kim’s bullet-proof train arrived in Komsomolsk-on-Amur, Russia’s far east, two days after visiting Putin at a spaceport, where he was greeted with flowers, music, a dance ensemble, and ceremonial loaves of bread, according to the Interfax news agency.

Kim, who seldom leaves the nation, is in the vital Russian industrial city to visit a military and civil aircraft enterprise.

While Pyongyang wants Moscow’s assistance in developing its missile programme, US officials and analysts say Russia is interested in purchasing North Korean munitions for use in Ukraine.

According to the TASS news agency, Kim visited an aircraft facility named after Soviet astronaut Yuri Gagarin, the first person in space.

According to TASS, the factory manufactures Russia’s Sukhoi Su-35 and Su-57 fighter aircraft.

When Kim’s train arrived in Russia on Tuesday after leaving Pyongyang on Sunday, he was given an autographed portrait of Gagarin at the border.

Exchange of rifles

Kim held talks with Putin at the Vostochny cosmodrome on Wednesday.

Afterwards, Putin said on television that Kim “will visit factories where civilian and combat aviation equipment is produced” in Komsomolsk-on-Amur.

He added that Kim would also visit the far east port of Vladivostok to oversee a display of Russian warships.

“There is also a military component in Vladivostok… to demonstrate the capabilities of the Pacific Fleet,” Putin told state media.

Kim will visit the Far Eastern Federal University in Vladivostok, as well as the Russian Academy of Sciences, including laboratories researching marine biology, Putin added.

Kim’s far east visit will last a few more days, Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov said Thursday.

The Kremlin also confirmed that Putin, who has sought to strengthen alliances with other leaders ostracised by the West, had accepted Kim’s invitation to visit North Korea.

At their summit, Putin “gave (Kim) a rifle from our production of the highest quality. In return, he also received a North Korean-made rifle,” Peskov said.

Putin also gifted the North Korean leader a “glove from a space suit that has been to space several times”.

US consults Tokyo, Seoul

Peskov said Moscow will “quickly prepare” to send Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov to Pyongyang — with his trip expected in October — before arranging a Putin visit.

It would be Putin’s second trip to North Korea. He met Kim’s father Kim Jong-il in Pyongyang in July 2000, shortly after becoming president.

More than two decades later, Russia is facing unprecedented isolation from the West over Moscow’s Ukraine offensive, with Putin seeking to boost Soviet-era alliances.

Kim’s visit to Russia is his first official trip abroad since the Covid-19 pandemic broke out.

Both countries are under a raft of sanctions, and Kim’s visit has sparked widespread concern over illicit arms agreements.

Kim is accompanied by a military-heavy entourage, while top Russian military officials were also involved in the Putin talks.

After the summit, Putin told reporters that he saw “possibilities” for military cooperation.

Western countries warned Moscow and Pyongyang against making an arms deal as the conflict in Ukraine grinds on.

The White House said Thursday that US National Security Advisor Jake Sullivan had spoken with his Japanese and South Korean counterparts to discuss the Putin-Kim meeting.

They noted that any arms exports from North Korea to Russia “would directly violate multiple UN Security Council resolutions, including resolutions that Russia itself voted to adopt”, a White House statement said.