Komsomolsk-on-Amur: Kim Jong-un visits Russia’s fighter aircraft factory as Putin accepts invitation to visit North Korea

CNN
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North Korean leader Kim Jong Un continued his policy A day trip to Russia On Friday, he visited an aircraft factory in the eastern city of Komsomolsk-on-Amur, according to Russian state media, after both sides said military cooperation was possible.

The facility is the nation’s largest aerospace manufacturing plant and builds and develops military aircraft for the Department of Defense, including… Su-35S The official TASS agency reported that the fighter jets were Su-57.

The photos showed Kim and his entourage at Yuri Gagarin’s Komsomolsk-on-Amur Aircraft Plant (KnAAZ), named after the famous Russian cosmonaut, and shown inside a fighter jet, according to Russian state media RIA Novosti.

Kim was accompanied on the tour by the city’s mayor, Alexander Zornik, and the governor of the Khabarovsk region, Mikhail Degtyarev.

The North Korean leader is also expected to travel to the port city of Vladivostok where he will be briefed on the military capabilities of Russia’s Pacific Fleet, Russian President Vladimir Putin told state news agency Russia 1.

The tour of key sites in the Russian Far East came after Putin said that Russia was studying this And discuss some military cooperation With North Korea, following a summit in which Kim appeared to support Moscow’s war on Ukraine.

The five-hour meeting on Wednesday at the Vostochny Cosmodrome signaled closer ties between the two countries facing international isolation — Moscow over its invasion of Ukraine and Pyongyang over its nuclear weapons and ballistic missile program.

The Kremlin said on Thursday that Putin had accepted Kim’s invitation to visit North Korea, and that Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov would also visit the country in October, according to his spokesman Dmitry Peskov.

Asked whether the two leaders discussed military and technical cooperation during the talks, Peskov said it was a “sensitive area of ​​cooperation” and reiterated Moscow’s commitment to further developing relations with Pyongyang.

Efforts to demonstrate this close relationship were on full display during the summit. Putin presented Kim with a spacesuit glove that went into space and a high-quality, domestically made carbine – a type of rifle – while Kim also presented Putin with a carbine made by North Korean craftsmen, according to Peskov.

At a state banquet with Putin on Wednesday, Kim pledged to establish “a new era of 100-year friendship” between the two countries.

In the weeks leading up to the summit, US officials warned that Russia and North Korea were “actively advancing” a potential arms deal that could see Pyongyang provide weapons to Moscow for use in its faltering war in Ukraine in exchange for sanctioned ballistic missile technology.

Putin was asked whether he discussed military-technical cooperation with Kim during the leaders’ meeting. In response, Putin acknowledged the existence of certain restrictions, saying that Moscow had fully adhered to them. But he also said there were open areas for discussion and study, suggesting potential points of cooperation.

Kim said before toasting the state dinner with Putin that he was “sure that the Russian people and their army will emerge victorious in the battle to punish the forces of evil that ambitiously seek domination and expansion.”

Without mentioning Ukraine by name, Kim said that “the Russian army and its people will inherit the bright tradition of victory” and demonstrate their reputation on the front line in the “military operation,” the euphemism Moscow uses to describe its illegal invasion of Ukraine.

“I will always stand with Russia,” Kim said, praising Moscow for “standing up to hegemonic powers” ​​to defend its sovereignty and security, in an implicit reference to the United States and the West.

In return, Putin indicated his willingness to help North Korea develop its space and satellite program.

A Ukrainian presidential adviser on Thursday described the talks as a “manifestation of impotence” and said Ukraine “takes the actions of Moscow and Pyongyang seriously and is making its own calculations.”

“Moscow’s need to ask for help from North Korea is certainly a reason for jokes, a manifestation of Russia’s impotence, and a verdict on Putin’s 23-year policy,” said Mykhailo Podoliak, advisor to the head of the Ukrainian Presidential Office for X Affairs. Formerly known as Twitter.

Ukrainian defense intelligence said on Wednesday that military cooperation between Russia and North Korea is not new. Russian requests for projectiles for artillery and multiple launch rocket systems (MLRS) are already known to Ukrainian authorities, Andrei Yusov, a representative of defense intelligence, said in an interview with Ukrainian state media.

“We cannot neglect this. This is an important factor that will unfortunately be felt on the battlefield, but this is not news in this case. This is the scenario, and it is the reaction that Ukraine is working on.”

When asked at a press conference whether North Korean missiles were being supplied to Moscow, an official from South Korea’s presidential office said: “We have long maintained that the weapons supplied by North Korea were used by Russia on the battlefield in Ukraine.”

The Biden administration believes North Korea delivered infantry missiles and missiles for use by the Russian Wagner mercenary force in Ukraine last year.

Meanwhile, national security advisers of the United States, South Korea and Japan on Thursday issued a joint warning about potential violations of international sanctions by North Korea and Russia.

According to a statement issued by South Korea’s presidential office, the three countries said there would be “clear consequences” if either country violates its obligations under UN Security Council resolutions and sanctions, especially those related to arms trade and military. cooperation.

The statement said: “The three countries expressed their deep concern about the discussions between the two leaders, which included topics related to military cooperation, including the development of intercontinental ballistic missiles, despite repeated warnings from the international community.”