WASHINGTON: The US said on Monday it expects North Korean leader Kim Jong Un to make a rare trip abroad to meet President Vladimir Putin in Russia, where they are likely to discuss arms for Moscow’s war in Ukraine.

The Kremlin said on Tuesday it was unable to confirm a summit between Putin and Kim. “We have nothing to say on this,” Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov said.

The White House’s National Security Council (NSC) spokeswoman Adri­enne Watson said “arms negotiations betw­een Russia and the DPRK are actively advancing,” using an acronym for North Korea.

“We have information that Kim Jong Un expects these discussions to continue, to include leader-level diplomatic engagement in Russia.”

Kremlin unable to confirm the summit between two leaders

Kim is likely to head by armoured train later this month to Vladivostok, on Russia’s Pacific coast not far from North Korea, to meet Putin, US and other officials told the New York Times.

According to the Times, Putin is seeking artillery shells and antitank missiles from North Korea, while Kim, who could even travel to Moscow, is reportedly in search of advanced technology for satellites and nuclear-powered submarines, as well as food aid for his impoverished nation.

An official at Seoul’s unification ministry, which handles inter-Korean relations, said various developments “indicated” the growing possibility of an arms deal between Pyongyang and Moscow.

Washington said last week that, despite its denials, North Korea supplied infantry rockets and missiles to Russia in 2022 for use by the privately controlled Wagner military group.

Diplomatic isolation

Park Won-gon, a professor at Ewha University in Seoul, said both Pyongyang and Moscow needed to “break away from diplomatic isolation,” and a summit would send a message to Washington, which is ramping up defence cooperation with South Korea and Japan.

“As South Korea, the United States, and Japan have recently been strengthening cooperation, including the Camp David summit, North Korea and Russia also need to showcase their cooperation in a symbolic diplomatic sense.”

Last week at the UN, the US, the UK, South Korea and Japan said any deal to increase cooperation between Russia and North Korea would violate Security Council resolutions forbidding arms deals with Pyongyang — resolutions Moscow itself had endorsed.

They said another group of Russian officials travelled to North Korea for follow-up talks after Shoigu’s visit to Pyongyang.

Cho Han-bum, a senior research fellow at the Korea Institute for National Unification, said sanctions will do little to stop Russia and North Korea from trading weapons.

Published in Dawn, September 6th, 2023