North Korea’s Kim Jong-un, Russia talk up military ties in new ‘heyday’: state media
- Kim’s trip comes as ‘fresh heyday of friendship and solidarity and cooperation is being opened up’ in history of North Korea-Russia ties
- Kim and Russian defence chief Sergei Shoigu discussed military cooperation, praised Russia’s Pacific Sea Fleet for contributing to peace
North Korean leader Kim Jong-un and Russia’s defence minister discussed practical issues to boost military cooperation, state media said on Sunday, in what Pyongyang called a “fresh heyday” for bilateral relations.
During his visit to Russia, Kim inspected Russian nuclear-capable strategic bombers, hypersonic missiles and warships on Saturday, accompanied by Russian Defence Minister Sergei Shoigu.
Continuing his week-long train journey, Kim was to go to several food enterprises, Russia’s RIA news agency reported on Sunday.
He later left the railway station in Russia’s Far Eastern city of Artyom bound for home, wrapping up his visit, news agencies said.
An RIA video showed Kim – who seldom leaves North Korea – walking along a red carpet to the train carriage to the music of a military band and waving goodbye.
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His trip came as “a fresh heyday of friendship and solidarity and cooperation is being opened up in the history of the development of the relations between the DPRK and Russia”, state KCNA news agency said earlier, using the initials for the Democratic People’s Republic of Korea.
Kim met Russian President Vladimir Putin on Wednesday and discussed military matters, the war in Ukraine and deepening cooperation.
The United States and its allies worry about warming military ties between the two neighbours as Russia continues its invasion of Ukraine and North Korea proceeds with missile and nuclear development.
South Korea and the US say military cooperation between North Korea and Russia would violate UN sanctions against Pyongyang and that the allies would ensure there was a price to pay.
South Korean President Yoon Suk-yeol called such a military partnership “illegal and unjust”, saying the international community would “unite more tightly” to cope with deepening ties between Moscow and Pyongyang, in written responses to the Associated Press on Sunday.
Yoon heads to New York on Monday for the UN General Assembly.
Russia has gone out of its way to publicise Kim’s visit, dropping repeated hints about the prospect of military cooperation with North Korea, a country formed in 1948 with the backing of the Soviet Union.
Kim and Shoigu “exchanged their constructive opinions on the practical issues arising in further strengthening the strategic and tactical coordination, cooperation and mutual exchange between the armed forces of the two countries and in the fields of their national defence and security”, KCNA reported.
Moscow is discussing joint military exercises with North Korea, Shoigu told Russian media. He visited Pyongyang in July and toured a weapons exhibit with Kim, one of the most striking signs of deepening ties up to that point.
Kim also toured Russia’s Pacific Sea Fleet, equipped with strategic nuclear submarines among other military vessels, KCNA said, quoting him as praising the fleet for its contribution to peace in the region. He was photographed going around a control room and inspecting a warship.
North Korea this month launched its first operational “tactical nuclear attack submarine”.
Oleg Kozhemyako, the governor of Russia’s far eastern Primorsky region, gave Kim a bulletproof vest and six drones, the RIA news agency said.
