North Korea’s Kim Jong-un arrives in Russia ahead of meeting with Putin

North Korean leader Kim Jong-un arrived in Russia ahead of an expected meeting with president Vladimir Putin, Russian news agency Interfax reported citing footage from Rossiya-1 TV state channel.

The meeting has sparked Western concerns about a potential arms deal for Moscow’s war in Ukraine.

Mr Kim is expected to seek economic aid and military technology for his impoverished country, and, in an unusual twist, appears to have something Mr Putin desperately needs: munitions for Russia’s grueling war in Ukraine.

This meeting is a chance for the North Korean leader to get around crippling UN sanctions and years of diplomatic isolation. For Mr Putin, it’s an opportunity to refill ammunition stores that the war has drained. Any arms deal with North Korea would violate the sanctions, which Russia supported in the past.

The footage showed green train cars and a Russian Railways locomotive driving across the bridge over a river.

Interfax reported that the train crossed the Khasan station in “an atmosphere of absolute secrecy” on Tuesday morning. Khasan is a small settlement in Russia’s Far East and the tripoint where the borders for Russia, China and North Korea converge.

His final destination is uncertain. Many had assumed Mr Kim and Mr Putin would meet in Vladisvostok, a Russian city close to the border where the two leaders had their last meeting in 2019, and which Mr Putin is visiting this week for an economic forum.

But Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov confirmed only that Mr Kim entered Russia, and state news agency RIA Novosti later reported his train had headed north after crossing the Razdolnaya River, taking it away from Vladivostok. The South Korean news agency Yonhap later published a photo that it said showed the train in Ussuriysk, a city about 60km north of Vladivostok that has a sizeable ethnic Korean population.

Some Russian news media speculate that he is headed for the Vostochny spaceport, which Mr Putin is to visit soon. Mr Putin declined during the forum to say what he intended to do there. The launching facility is about 900km (550 miles) northwest of Ussuriysk, but the route there is circuitous and it is unclear how long Kim‘s slow-moving train would take to get there.

Mr Peskov said Mr Putin and Mr Kim will meet after the Vladivostok forum, and that the meeting would include a lunch in Mr Kim‘s honor.

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Officials identified in North Korean state media photos may hint at what Mr Kim might seek from Mr Putin and what he would be willing to give.

Mr Kim‘s delegation likely includes his foreign minister Choe Sun Hui, and his top two military officials, Korean People’s Army marshals Ri Pyong Chol and Pak Jong Chon.

Other officials identified in North Korean state media photos may hint at what Mr Kim might seek from Putin and what he would be willing to give. Mr Kim is apparently bringing Jo Chun Ryong, a ruling party official in charge of munitions policies who accompanied the leader on recent tours of factories producing artillery shells and missiles.

North Korea may have tens of millions of artillery shells and rockets based on Soviet designs that could give a huge boost to the Russian army in Ukraine, analysts say.

Also identified in photos were Pak Thae Song, chair of North Korea’s space science and technology committee, and Navy admiral Kim Myong Sik, who are linked with North Korean efforts to acquire spy satellites and nuclear-capable ballistic missile submarines.

Experts say North Korea would struggle to acquire such capabilities without external help, although it’s not clear if Russia would share such sensitive technologies. Mr Kim may also seek badly needed energy and food aid, analysts say. Japan’s chief cabinet secretary Hirokazu Matsuno told reporters that Tokyo will be watching the outcome of the Kim-Putin meeting with concern, including the “impact it could have on Russia’s invasion of Ukraine”.

Data from FlightRadar24.com, which tracks flights worldwide, showed an Air Koryo Antonov An-148 took off from Pyongyang on Tuesday and flew for about an hour to reach Vladivostok. North Korea’s national airline has only just resumed flying internationally after being grounded during the Covid-19 pandemic.

Kim Jong-un arrives in Russia; Ukraine troops take over a key oil rig in the Black Sea.

(AP / Telegram (@DIUkraine))

There had been speculation that North Korea could use a plane to fly in support staff. Mr Kim is making his first foreign trip since the pandemic, during which North Korea imposed tight border controls for more than three years. After decades of hot-and-cold relations, Russia and North Korea have drawn closer since Moscow’s invasion of Ukraine in 2022.

Meanwhile, deputy foreign minister Andrei Rudenko said that Russia will inform South Korea about the meeting’s outcome upon request: “The South Koreans have an embassy in Moscow. If they want, we can provide them with the information we have.” Mr Kim is making his first foreign trip since the Covid-19 pandemic, during which North Korea imposed tight border controls for more than three years.

Lim Soo-suk, South Korea’s foreign ministry spokesperson, said Seoul was maintaining communication with Moscow while closely monitoring Kim‘s visit.

“No UN member state should violate Security Council sanctions against North Korea by engaging in an illegal trade of arms, and must certainly not engage in military cooperation with North Korea that undermines the peace and stability of the international community,” Mr Lim said during a briefing.

US officials released intelligence last week that North Korea and Russia were arranging a meeting between their leaders.

According to US officials, Mr Putin could focus on securing more supplies of North Korean artillery and other ammunition to refill declining reserves as he seeks to rebuff a Ukrainian counteroffensive and show that he’s capable of grinding out a long war of attrition. That could potentially put more pressure on the US and its partners to pursue negotiations as concerns over a protracted conflict grow despite their huge shipments of advanced weaponry to Ukraine in the past 17 months.

“Arms discussions between Russia and the DPRK are expected to continue during Kim Jong Un‘s trip to Russia,” said White House National Security Council spokesperson Adrienne Watson, using the abbreviation for North Korea’s official name of the Democratic People’s Republic of Korea. “We urge the DPRK to abide by the public commitments that Pyongyang has made to not provide or sell arms to Russia.”

(Additional reporting from agencies)

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