SEOUL: Walking past huge intercontinental ballistic missiles and previously unseen military drones, Kim Jong Un gave Russia’s defence minister a tour of North Korea’s newest and most advanced weaponry on Thursday, state media reported.

After Washington earlier this year accused Pyongyang of supplying Moscow with weapons for its war in Ukraine, photographs in state media showed Kim walking Moscow’s Sergei Shoigu through a vast defence exhibition showcasing the North’s nuclear missiles and what Seoul-based specialist site NK News said were new unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs).

Shoigu and a high-ranking Chinese delegation are in Pyongyang as Kim’s first-known foreign guests since the start of the Covid-19 pandemic, as the country marks the 70th anniversary of the Korean War armistice, which ended open hostilities and is celebrated as Victory Day.

Kim and Shoigu visited the “Weapons and Equipment Exhibition 2023”, the official Korean Central News Agency said, showing photos that featured North Korea’s largest intercontinental ballistic missiles, the Hwasong-17, and the Hwasong-18 solid-fuel ICBM.

North Korean leader receives personal letter from President Xi through Chinese delegation

Russia, a historic ally of North Korea, is one of a handful of nations with which Pyongyang maintains friendly relations.

Kim and Shoigu had earlier discussed “matters of mutual concern in the field of national defence and security and on the regional and international security environment,” KCNA said.

The North Korean leader has been steadfast in his support for Moscow’s invasion of Ukraine, including, Washington says, supplying rockets and missiles — a charge Pyongyang has denied.

Chinese delegation

Kim also met a Chinese delegation led by politburo member Li Hongzhong and told him, “The Korean people will never forget the fact that the brave soldiers of the Chinese People’s Volunteers shed blood to bring about the war victory,” KCNA said.

A picture released by KCNA shows Kim had received a personal letter from Chinese President Xi Jinping through Hongzhong.

“The meetings show that Kim is more interested in political theatre than he is concerned about Covid,” Leif-Eric Easley, a professor at Ewha University, said.

North Korea only resumed some trade with China last year and allowed new Beijing envoy Wang Yajun to take up his position this year. He is the first known senior diplomat to cross into North Korea since the border closure in January 2020.

Beijing is North Korea’s most important ally and economic benefactor, their relationship forged in the bloodshed of the Korean War in the 1950s.

During the visit, Kim told Shoigu “about the weapons and equipment which were invented and produced” under North Korea’s national defence plan and “repeatedly expressed belief that the Russian army and people would achieve big successes”, KCNA added.

Published in Dawn, July 28th, 2023