Kim Jong Un of North Korea is continuing his closely watched trip to Russia after discussions with Vladimir Putin over a possible arms sale.

On Wednesday, the two met at the Vostochny space center after Mr. Kim traveled there on his own armored train.

Later, Mr. Putin claimed they discussed “possibilities” of military cooperation and made it known he would support Pyongyang’s satellite-development efforts.

According to the US, Moscow is trying to purchase weaponry to help its conflict with Ukraine.
The UN Security Council resolutions would be broken if Moscow assisted Pyongyang’s satellite program, the statement said.

Additionally, Mr. Putin accepted Mr. Kim’s invitation to travel to North Korea. The closed state has not been visited by many heads of state.
Senior officials from both sides attended the meeting on Wednesday between the two sanctioned regimes, which took place at a time when those relations with the West are at an all-time low.

Mr. Kim was cordially welcomed by Mr. Putin after a two-day trip to the far east of Russia. The two leaders clasped hands and smiled in the clip from Russian official television before Mr. Putin personally guided Mr. Kim through the space center.

The Russian phrase “an old friend is better than two new ones” was used by Mr. Putin to greet his counterpart, citing historical links between the Soviet Union and North Korea.
According to Russian media, when asked if Russia will assist North Korea in developing satellites, Mr. Putin responded, “This is why we’ve come to Vostochny Cosmodrome.”
When questioned whether he would speak with Mr. Kim about a deal for weapons, Mr. Putin responded that they would “discuss all topics.”

Mr. Kim appeared to back Mr. Putin’s war in Ukraine at the same time.
Mr. Kim informed Mr. Putin that “Russia has risen to a sacred fight to protect its sovereignty and security against the hegemonic forces” of the West.
“We will always support President Putin and the Russian leadership’s decisions… and we will work together to oppose imperialism.”
The North Korean leader is scheduled to visit multiple factories, watch a show of Russian warships, and travel through the eastern city of Vladivostok on his way home. How long he will remain in Russia is unknown.

North Korea attempted to launch a spy satellite twice earlier this year, but both attempts failed. To improve military surveillance, Pyongyang has promised to create one.
But because the technology is comparable, the US thinks North Korea’s satellite program also aims to improve its ballistic missile capabilities.

In answer to questions from reporters on Wednesday, US State Department spokesman Matthew Miller said that there was fear that Russian assistance with satellite technology would significantly advance the North Korean missile program.
He stated, “That is quite troubling and would possibly violate a number of UN Security Council resolutions,” which Russia itself had previously voted for.
When he said on Wednesday that there were “certain limitations” to military cooperation, Mr. Putin seemed to concede this.

The US also issued a warning, stating that it would “not hesitate to take action to hold those accountable if necessary.” In response, the Kremlin said that Russia’s and North Korea’s interests came first, “and not warnings from Washington.”

Mr. Kim traveled abroad for the first time since 2019 for the summit. After the failure of North Korea’s nuclear disarmament negotiations with then-US president Donald Trump, he last left North Korea to meet with Mr. Putin.
The train chugged north to Vostochny when many had expected him to travel to Vladivostok, where Mr. Putin was attending an economic event. The latest in a string of illegal weapons tests, North Korea launched two short-range missiles into the ocean off its east coast on Wednesday morning as Mr. Kim got closer to his destination.

The meeting between Mr. Kim and Mr. Putin comes after a Russian delegation visited North Korea in July, during which Mr. Kim proudly displayed Pyongyang’s arsenal of missiles, notably the intercontinental ballistic missile Hwasong, to defense minister Sergei Shoigu.
Because North Korean weapons are compatible with Russian weaponry, experts believe Moscow might be interested in them.

According to Valeriy Akimenko, a military specialist with the Conflict Studies Research Centre, artillery is “the god Russia worships” on the battlefield, thus they would be especially anxious for artillery rounds and cannons.

Kim Dong-yup, a professor at the University of North Korean Studies, said that Pyongyang would obligingly supply these as well as ammunition and “even older types of missiles”.
A research fellow at the Asian Institute for Policy Studies named Yang Uk said it’s also likely that more modern weaponry like short-range ballistic missiles, like the alleged “super-large” rocket KN-25, may be delivered.
Since it hasn’t engaged in hostilities since the Korean War’s armistice in 1953, some observers believe North Korea may have a sizable arsenal. However, some feel Pyongyang may be reluctant to hand over too much given their relative lack of resources.

However, commentators also point out that using North Korean weaponry would only assist Russia’s military effort temporarily. They draw attention to the fact that Moscow is using older, less dependable artillery round stocks due to its severely reduced ammunition supply.
Mr. Akimenko observed that North Korea’s weapons could serve “as a stop-gap measure” as Russia struggles to increase production.

But given how quickly Russia has been depleting its supplies, the agreement would not have much of an influence from a strategic standpoint. “More Ukrainians would die. But it won’t endanger Ukraine, he continued.

Mr. Kim is rumored to be requesting food aid for his underdeveloped nation in exchange.
Border closures during COVID, which have just lately begun to be relaxed, have particularly hurt North Korea, which has long struggled under sanctions.
Additionally, it might ask Russia for more sophisticated ballistic and submarine technology, though some commentators predict that Mr. Putin may put a stop to it.
Leif-Eric Easley, a professor at Ewha Womans University in Seoul, observed that “even a desperate war machine does not trade its military crown jewels for old, dumb munitions.”

The discussion raised a deeper query: Are the severe sanctions against North Korea and Russia actually having an impact?

The encounter, according to Rorry Daniels, managing director of the Asia Society Policy Institute, demonstrated how sanctions have built a “firewall” that allows the two nations to conduct business without worrying about receiving further restrictions.
“The US can do less to use sanctions as leverage to resolve the underlying conflicts the more states under severe sanctions are pushed together.”

However, Pyongyang faces risks as well, according to Park Won-gon, an associate professor of North Korean studies at Ewha Womans University.
If there is any proof that Russia utilized North Korean weaponry in Ukraine, North Korea “may turn the entire Nato alliance against it, which could then lead to additional sanctions,” according to the report.

Kim Jong Un tours the world by armoured train, boat, and airplane.

Kim Jong Un, the leader of North Korea, is traveling by bulletproof train to Vladivostok, Russia, where he will meet with Vladimir Putin.
In keeping with a long-standing custom among North Korean leaders, Mr. Kim is expected to spend more than 20 hours traveling on the slow locomotive, which is believed to have a restaurant offering delectable French wines and meals like fresh lobster.
Due to its extensive armor protection, the train squeaks along at a speed of roughly 50 km/h (31 mph).
In contrast, Japan’s Shinkansen bullet trains can reach 320 km/h, while London’s high-speed rail travels at roughly 200 km/h.
The lengthy trip also accounts for the North’s occasionally dated rail system.
As a symbolic nod to North Korea’s founding father Kim Il Sung, the train has been named Taeyangho, the Korean term for the sun.

Traditional trains

Kim Il Sung, Kim Jong Un’s grandfather, established the custom of long-distance train travel by taking his own train on visits to Vietnam and Eastern Europe.
Security personnel are believed to be closely watching these opulent trains as they travel and approach stops, looking for bombs and other dangers.

Kim Jong Il, the father of Kim Jong Un and the former dictator of North Korea from 1994 until his death in 2011, reportedly avoided flying and instead used the train.
Famously, Kim Jong Il traveled to Moscow for a summit with Vladimir Putin in 2001 and stayed there for ten days.

In his autobiography Orient Express, Konstantin Pulikovsky, a Russian military commander who traveled on the train with the former North Korean leader in 2001, described its splendor.
Any food from the cuisines of Russia, China, Korea, Japan, and France may be ordered.
He remembered that in order to guarantee the availability of fresh delicacies, live lobsters were brought to the train, and cases of red wine from Bordeaux and Burgundy were also flown in from Paris.
Even the personal train for Mr. Putin “did not have the comfort of Kim Jong Il’s train,” he claimed.
Georgy Toloraya, a different ex-diplomat from Russia, wrote in 2019 about his own journey on the same train in 2001. He recalls that delicacies like abalones, a kind of mollusc, and donkey meat were flown in from Pyongyang. Additionally, Russian Standard vodka was a constant.
Both Russian speakers described musicians and performers entertaining passengers on the train.

Kim Jong Il passed away in 2011 while riding a train, according to North Korean state media.

According to conservative South Korean newspaper Chosun Ilbo’s story from November 2009, the armored train had about 90 carriages. In addition to conference rooms, audience chambers, and bedrooms, the green truck with the yellow stripe contained flat-screen televisions and satellite phones for briefings.

In other pictures, crimson leather armchairs can be seen lining carriages.
Given that he has taken multiple flights on his Russian-made private plane, Kim Jong Un may not share his father’s aversion to flying.

However, he also arrived by train when he last saw Mr. Putin in Vladivostok in Russia’s far east in 2019, which was probably the last time Mr. Kim traveled outside of his country. Officials gave him a traditional gift of bread and salt as a welcome.
If his rumored trip actually occurs, it will probably begin in Pyongyang and pass through the border station at Tumangang on the Russian side, when the train’s wheels will be swapped to the Russian tracks.

It is anticipated that the wheel switch would take several hours or more.

private aircraft

In addition to trains, Mr. Kim has been spotted traveling on various opulent modes of transportation that stand in stark contrast to the destitute lifestyles of the people of North Korea.
Kim Jong Un is accustomed to flying, having gone to a Swiss boarding school.
He took his first international journey since taking office in May 2018 to the Chinese city of Dalian, where he met with Chinese President Xi Jinping.
According to media accounts, he has reportedly used his private plane to fly inside of North Korea in the past.
He was transported to China by a long-range Ilyushin-62 (Il-62) aircraft, a product of the Soviet Union.
According to North Korean observers at the website NK News, residents refer to it as “Chammae-1” after the goshawk, the nation’s official bird.

On both sides of the white exterior of the aircraft, the official name of North Korea in Korean is inscribed, along with the country’s flag. A red star is embedded within red and blue circles on the tail.
The aircraft’s interior is contemporary, and Kim has occasionally been spotted conducting business and attending meetings inside.

When the Chammae-1 transported Pyongyang’s elite Olympic delegation, including Kim Yo Jong, Kim’s sister, to South Korea in 2018, it garnered media attention.
The flight’s identifying number, “PRK-615,” according to South Korean news agency Yonhap, may be a symbolic allusion to the 15 June North-South Joint Declaration that the two nations signed in 2000.

In a 2014 documentary shown on state-run Korean Central Television, Mr. Kim can also be shown utilizing a Ukrainian Antonov-148 (AN-148) with the logo of the state airline Air Koryo.

Kim Jong Un was even seen in state-run North Korean media in 2015 flying an AN-2 military biplane and operating a “homegrown” light aircraft.

luxury automobiles

Mr. Kim took a train to Beijing, the capital of China, in March 2018, but he drove his own Mercedes-Benz S-Class about the city.
JoongAng Ilbo, a South Korean newspaper, claims that the automobile was brought on board the train in a specific way.

According to the newspaper, the 2010-built automobile cost about 2 billion Korean won ($1.8m).

During the 2018 inter-Korean meeting at Panmunjom, Mr. Kim’s preferred S-Class model was prominent when he crossed the border in it while bodyguards followed close behind.

The Putin reportedly utilized a private toilet car in his convoy at the summit to attend to his personal needs while on the road.
This was also referenced in a 2015 article by the Seoul-based website DailyNK, which claimed that one of the cars in Mr. Kim’s convoy of armored vehicles has a special restroom constructed into it.

unknown yacht

North Korean state media has depicted the Kim traveling in buses, boats, submarines, and even a ski lift.
Although these have not yet been observed on his travels abroad, he is reportedly rumored to use other modes of transportation.

In May 2013, NK News noticed a boat in the background of images from his visit to an army-run fishing facility that were broadcast by state media.

There was no definitive proof that the $7 million vessel belonged to Mr. Kim, and it was unclear how it had been imported despite international restrictions on expensive items.
But because of the cost, numerous international media sites identified the president as the most likely owner.

At Mr. Kim’s lakeside residence in South Pyongan province, a researcher discovered a new helipad in June 2015, according to Washington-based Radio Free Asia.
The scholar, who is employed by the Johns Hopkins School of Advanced International Studies’ US-Korea Institute, indicated that Mr. Kim’s visitors or family might use the helipad.

chatbeet home

chatbeet facebook