Putin-Kim Jong Un summit sees North Korean and Russian leaders cement ties in an anti-U.S. present of solidarity

Seoul, South Korea — Russian President Vladimir Putin and North Korean chief Kim Jong Un signed a complete strategic partnership settlement Wednesday throughout a summit in Pyongyang in a bid to develop their financial and navy cooperation and cement a united entrance in opposition to Washington.

CBS News senior international correspondent Elizabeth Palmer says that whereas the greeting Kim supplied Putin on the airport Tuesday evening was heat, the boys are essentially allies of comfort. The pact they signed Wednesday sees them each pledge to defend the opposite if attacked, however officers within the U.S. and different Western capitals consider Russia, above all, desires to make sure a gradual provide of North Korean weapons for its conflict in Ukraine  — an ominous prospect for each Ukraine and its worldwide backers.  

Concern has grown for months over an arms association wherein North Korea supplies Russia with badly wanted munitions in change for financial help and know-how transfers that would improve the risk posed by Kim’s nuclear weapons and missile program.

Russian state media mentioned Putin and Kim spoke face-to-face for about two hours in a gathering that was initially deliberate for one hour.

Kim vows “full help” for Russia amid Ukraine conflict

Speaking at the beginning of Wednesday’s talks, Putin thanked Kim for North Korea’s help for his conflict in Ukraine, a part of what he mentioned was a “struggle in opposition to the imperialist hegemonistic insurance policies of the U.S. and its satellites in opposition to the Russian Federation.”

He known as the settlement a “new basic doc (that) will type the premise of our ties for the long run,” hailing ties that he traced again to the Soviet military combating the Japanese navy on the Korean Peninsula within the closing moments of World War II, and Moscow’s help for Pyongyang throughout the Korean War.

Kim mentioned Moscow and Pyongyang’s “fiery friendship” is now even nearer than throughout Soviet occasions, and promised “full help and solidarity to the Russian authorities, military and folks in finishing up the particular navy operation in Ukraine to guard sovereignty, safety pursuits and territorial integrity.”

Kim has used related language previously, persistently saying North Korea helps what he describes as a simply motion to guard Russia’s pursuits and blaming the disaster on the U.S.-led West’s “hegemonic coverage.”

It wasn’t instantly clear what that help may appear to be, and no particulars of the settlement have been initially made public.

Putin offers Kim one other limo, will get portraits in return

Putin’s international affairs adviser Yuri Ushakov instructed reporters in Pyongyang that the 2 leaders exchanged items after the talks.

Putin introduced Kim with a Russian-made Aurus limo and different items, together with a tea set and a naval officer’s dagger. It was the second Aurus gifted by Putin to his North Korean counterpart, after Kim apparently took a shine to the automobile throughout a assembly between the boys in September 2023 in Russia’s Far East — a uncommon foray by Kim outdoors of his remoted nation’s borders.

“When the pinnacle of the DPRK (North Korea) was on the Vostochny Cosmodrome, he checked out this automobile, Putin confirmed it to him personally, and like many individuals, Kim favored this automobile,” Kremlin spokesperson Dmitry Peskov mentioned in February, after the primary Aurus was delivered to Kim. “So, this resolution was made… North Korea is our neighbor, our shut neighbor, and we intend, and can proceed, to develop our relationships with all neighbors, together with North Korea.”

Ushakov mentioned that Kim’s presents to Putin on Wednesday included artworks depicting the Russian chief.

Deepening ties and alleged weapons transfers

North Korea is underneath heavy U.N. Security Council sanctions over its weapons program, whereas Russia additionally faces sanctions by the United States and its Western companions over its aggression in Ukraine.

U.S. and South Korean officers accuse the North of offering Russia with artillery, missiles and different navy gear to be used in Ukraine, probably in return for key navy applied sciences and support. A South Korean official instructed CBS News in September 2023, when Kim and Putin final met, that Seoul was involved the Kim regime might be in search of nuclear-powered submarines and satellite tv for pc know-how from Russia, along with cooperation on typical ammunition and missile know-how. 

Both Pyongyang and Moscow deny accusations about North Korean weapons transfers, which might violate a number of U.N. Security Council sanctions that Russia beforehand endorsed.

Along with China, Russia has offered political cowl for Kim’s persevering with efforts to advance his nuclear arsenal, repeatedly blocking U.S.-led efforts to impose contemporary U.N. sanctions on the North over its weapons assessments.

In March, a Russian veto on the United Nations ended monitoring of U.N. sanctions in opposition to North Korea over its nuclear program, prompting Western accusations that Moscow is in search of to keep away from scrutiny because it buys weapons from Pyongyang to be used in Ukraine. U.S. and South Korean officers have mentioned they’re discussing choices for a brand new mechanism for monitoring the North.

South Korean analysts say that Kim will possible search stronger financial advantages and extra superior navy applied sciences from Russia, though his extra delicate discussions with Putin aren’t more likely to be made public.

While Kim’s navy nuclear program now consists of developmental intercontinental ballistic missiles that may probably attain the U.S. mainland, he might have outdoors know-how assist to meaningfully advance his program additional. There are already attainable indicators that Russia is helping North Korea with applied sciences associated to area rockets and navy reconnaissance satellites, which Kim has described as essential for monitoring South Korea and enhancing the specter of his nuclear-capable missiles.

The North can also search to extend labor exports to Russia and different illicit actions to achieve international foreign money in defiance of U.N. Security Council sanctions, in keeping with a latest report by the Institute for National Security Strategy, a suppose tank run by South Korea’s important spy company. There will possible be talks about increasing cooperation in agriculture, fisheries and mining and additional selling Russian tourism to North Korea, the institute mentioned.

U.S. and its allies react to Kim-Putin summit

In Washington, U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken mentioned Putin’s go to to North Korea illustrates how Russia tries, “in desperation, to develop and to strengthen relations with nations that may present it with what it must proceed the conflict of aggression that it began in opposition to Ukraine.”

“North Korea is offering vital munitions to Russia … and different weapons to be used in Ukraine. Iran has been offering weaponry, together with drones, which have been used in opposition to civilians and civilian infrastructure,” Blinken instructed reporters following a gathering with NATO chief Jens Stoltenberg on Tuesday.

Tensions on the Korean Peninsula are at their highest level in years, with the tempo of each Kim’s weapons assessments and mixed navy workouts involving the United States, South Korea and Japan intensifying in a tit-for-tat cycle.

The Koreas even have engaged in Cold War-style psychological warfare that concerned North Korea dropping tons of trash on the South with balloons, and the South broadcasting anti-North Korean propaganda with its loudspeakers.