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“Russia is now rising to the sacred struggle to defend its state sovereignty and protect its security,” Kim told Putin, according to remarks in a video released by the Kremlin. “We have always supported and stand by all decisions of President Putin and the Russian government. I hope that we will always stand together in the fight against imperialism.”
Putin heralded 75 years of diplomatic relations between the two countries and stressed the need for economic cooperation: “It was our country that was the first to recognize the sovereign, independent state of the DPRK,” or the official abbreviation for North Korea.
The two leaders put on a show of bonhomie when they met each other at the Vostochny Cosmodrome, starting their meeting with smiles and warm words.
Putin greeted Kim as he got out of a black car at the spaceport in the far eastern Amur region, and the two men shook hands and exchanged welcome greetings, according to a video released by the Kremlin on its Telegram channel.
“Did you have a good journey?” Putin asked Kim, according to the video. “Thank you for inviting us despite your busy schedule,” Kim said in return. The North Korean leader’s sister and closest confidante, Kim Yo Jong, could be seen accompanying him.
The Kremlin said the two leaders inspected cosmodrome facilities including the assembly shop of the launch vehicles for the Angara and Soyuz-2 space rockets.
Yuri Borisov, the head of Roscosmos, Russia’s state space agency, and the general director of the Center for Operation of Ground-Based Space Infrastructure, Nikolai Nestechuk, described the Russian facilities to Kim, through an interpreter.
The unusual choice of location that could signal a focus on space technology, a priority for Kim.
North Korea last month failed its second attempt at launching a military spy satellite, and vowed to try it again in October. The country’s space agency has been working on putting the satellite into space, to keep an eye on “enemy” military activities in real time. South Korea’s military studied the debris from the first failed launch in May, and said the North’s satellite is not advanced enough to conduct a space-based reconnaissance.
Putin said he hosted Kim at the site because he intends to help North Korea build satellites, Russian media reported — a stunning remark given Russia’s position as a permanent member of the U.N. Security Council and the council’s prohibitions on Pyongyang’s testing of long-range technology, including satellites.
“The DPRK leader shows great interest in rocket technology, they are trying to develop space as well,” Putin was quoted as saying by Russian news agency RIA Novosti.
Kim entered Russia on Tuesday morning and was greeted with the fanfare of a military band performance and red carpet walkway when he crossed the border into Russia, marking the reclusive leader’s first international trip since the pandemic began.
Kim said his visit “is a clear expression of how our party and government put a high value on the strategic importance of DPRK-Russia relations,” Pyongyang’s official Korean Central News Agency reported earlier Wednesday.
With Kim’s trip, friendship and cooperation between the countries would move to a “fresh higher level,” the report said.
The leaders are expected to discuss increased support for each other, including the potential exchange of arms, labor and food, as Russia runs low on ammunition in its war against Ukraine and North Korea seeks to boost its dire economy.
Meanwhile, North Korea fired two suspected ballistic missiles toward the sea off its East coast, the South Korean military said Wednesday. Japanese media reported the missiles fell outside Japanese waters.
Kim left Pyongyang on his famously slow-moving train on Sunday afternoon along with top government and party officials, state media reported. Those who appeared to board the train included defense chief Kang Sun Nam and munitions industry department director Jo Chun Ryong, according to an analysis of state media photos by NK Pro, a monitoring website based in Seoul.
Dressed in a black suit, Kim stepped off his train at Khasan station along the border of the two countries at 6 a.m. Tuesday, state media said.
Oleg Kozhemyako, the governor of Russia’s far eastern Primorsky region, received Kim at the train station Tuesday, photos show. Among the Russian officials at the welcome ceremony was Alexander Kozlov, the minister of natural resources and ecology, state media said.
Kim last met Putin in Vladivostok in 2019, two months after the collapse of U.S.-North Korea denuclearization negotiations in Hanoi, and as Kim sought to hedge his bets during negotiations of his nuclear program.
Kim has been expanding North Korea’s nuclear-capable weapons arsenal at a rapid clip since his failed summit with then-U. S. President Donald Trump, even as his pandemic measures constricted the country’s economy.
Now, Kim and Putin are looking to signal that they are banding together around shared interests in their respective standoffs with Washington.
Washington has accused Moscow of seeking North Korean weapons.
“We remain concerned that North Korea is contemplating providing any type of ammunition or materiel support to Russia, in support of their war against Ukraine,” Pentagon spokesman Pat Ryder told reporters on Monday.
In an interview on CBS’s “Face the Nation” on Sunday, Vice President Harris said “it would be a huge mistake” for the two leaders to iron out an arms deal.
“I also believe very strongly that for both Russia and North Korea, this will further isolate them,” Harris said.
Min Joo Kim in Seoul and Natalia Abbakumova in Riga, Latvia, contributed to this report.
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