daniel chigunwe
MOSCOW. – Democratic People’s Republic of Korea leader Kim Jong Un and Russian President Vladimir Putin met for a rare summit yesterday at which they discussed military matters, the war in Ukraine and possible Russian help for the secretive Communist state’s satellite programme.
Putin showed Kim around Russia’s most advanced space rocket launch site in Russia’s Far East and discussed the possibility of sending a DPRK cosmonaut into space. Kim, who arrived by train from North Korea, asked detailed questions about rockets as Putin showed him around the Vostochny Cosmodrome.
After the tour, Putin and Kim held talks for several hours with their ministers and then discussed world affairs and possible areas of cooperation one-on-one, followed by an opulent lunch of Russian “pelmeni” dumplings stuffed with Kamchatka crab and then sturgeon with mushrooms and potatoes.
Kim raised a toast with a glass of Russian wine to Putin’s health, to the victory of “great Russia” and to Korean-Russian friendship, predicting victory for Moscow in its “sacred fight” with the West in the Ukraine war.
“I firmly believe that the heroic Russian army and people will brilliantly inherit their victories and traditions and vigorously demonstrate their noble dignity and honour on the two fronts of military operations and building a powerful nation,” Kim told Putin.
“The Russian army and people will certainly win a great victory in the sacred struggle for the punishment of a great evil that claims hegemony and feeds an expansionist illusion,” Kim added, raising his glass.
Putin gave numerous hints that military cooperation was discussed but disclosed few details. Defence Minister Sergei Shoigu attended the talks. The Kremlin said sensitive discussions between neighbours were a private matter.
When asked by Russian media if Moscow would help Kim build satellites, Putin said: “That’s why we came here.”
For Russia, the summit was an opportunity to needle the United States, the big power supporter of Ukraine, though it was unclear just how far Putin was prepared to go in fulfilling any DPRK wish lists for technology.
Putin said Kim now planned to visit military and civilian aviation factories in the Russian city of Komsomolsk-on-Amur and to inspect Russia’s Pacific fleet in Vladivostok.
Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov will visit Pyongyang for more talks next month.
Putin and Kim called each other “comrades” at lunch and Putin repeatedly reminded Kim that it was the Soviet Union that backed the DPRK – and was first to recognise it just over 75 years to the day since it was established.
Russia has joined China in opposing new sanctions on the DPRK, blocking a US-led push and publicly splitting the UN Security Council for the first time since it started punishing Pyongyang in 2006.– Reuters
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