The Daily Populous Tuesday June 18th, 2024 evening edition
Authored by dw.com and submitted by donutloop

Russia's president is on a two-day trip to North Korea, his first in 24 years. He'll hold talks with Kim Jong Un, and most of his senior Cabinet members are part of the delegation.

Russian President Vladimir Putin has thanked North Korea for its support of his invasion of Ukraine and said that the two countries would cooperate closely to overcome Western sanctions in remarks made ahead of a two-day visit to the country.

The comments were part of an op-ed piece printed in North Korean state media on Tuesday morning, soon before Putin was expected to arrive in Pyongyang for a summit with North Korean leader Kim Jong Un.

"We highly appreciate that the DPRK [North Korea] is firmly supporting the special military operations of Russia being conducted in Ukraine," Putin wrote in the article carried by the Korean Central News Agency (KCNA).

He said that the two countries were "now actively developing the many-sided partnership," for example maintaining Moscow and North Korea's "common line and stand at the UN."

Putin wrote that the two countries would also seek deeper ties in tourism, culture and education.

He also said the countries would continue to "resolutely" fight against what he described as Western attempts to "to hinder the establishment of a multipolarized world order based on mutual respect for justice."

Putin heading for North Korea to meet with Kim To view this video please enable JavaScript, and consider upgrading to a web browser that supports HTML5 video

First visit to North Korea since 2000

The Russian president's only previous visit to North Korea came shortly after he first assumed power, back in July 2000. At that point, Kim Jong Un's father Kim Jong Il was in charge and the country had barely emerged from years of serious famine in the 1990s.

But Kim Jong Un visited Russia last year in a fairly rare overseas trip, during which he and Putin emphasized the potential for collaboration in areas like space technology.

Kim also visited Vladivostock in Russia's far east in April 2019, before the outbreak of the COVID pandemic, amid which he further curtailed his already rare foreign travel Image: Shamil Zhumatov/Pool Photo/AP Photo/picture alliance

With Russia increasingly isolated by international sanctions, and this status the norm for North Korea for decades now, the two historical allies have had more incentive to cooperate in recent years.

South Korea, the US and Ukraine have all alleged that North Korea is shipping weapons to Russia, in violation of UN sanctions, in return for technical help with its nascent satellite program. Russia and North Korea have denied this, with Pyongyang calling the notion "absurd."

US State Department spokesman Matthew Miller repeated the charge on Monday ahead of the trip, saying North Korea had provided "dozens of ballistic missiles and over 11,000 containers of munitions to Russia" for use in Ukraine.

Accompanying Putin in the delegation are relatively new Defense Minister Andrei Beluosov, Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov, as well as the head of the Russian space agency and railways and the ministers for natural resources, health, transport, in addition to Deputy Prime Minister Alexander Novak, Putin's point man for energy policy.

Commercial satellite imagery taken in the run-up to Putin's arrival showed potential indications of preparations for some kind of military parade in downtown Pyongyang.

The_Milkman on June 18th, 2024 at 10:11 UTC »

> ...and space technology on the agenda.

This means nuclear weapons technology.

just_a_cosmos on June 18th, 2024 at 07:59 UTC »

Man Putin really needs those cheap weapons. Isn't this the second meeting since the war started?

donutloop on June 18th, 2024 at 05:28 UTC »

Submission Statement

Russian President Vladimir Putin has embarked on a rare visit to North Korea, marking his first trip to the country in 24 years. Accompanied by key members of his Cabinet, Putin aims to strengthen bilateral ties with North Korean leader Kim Jong Un. In an op-ed published by North Korean state media, Putin expressed gratitude for North Korea's support of Russia's military operations in Ukraine and emphasized the importance of collaboration in overcoming Western sanctions. The visit underscores the deepening partnership between the two nations, with potential cooperation in tourism, culture, education, and space technology on the agenda.