Vladimir Putin has “gratefully accepted” accepted Kim Jong Un’s invitation to go to North Korea.
The Kremlin confirmed the journey on Thursday after the 2 males held a uncommon summit in Russia’s Far East.
Mr Kim is at the moment in Russia, the place he has vowed to assist the Kremlin’s “sacred war” towards Ukraine, elevating issues the 2 nations may bolster their navy capabilities.
Read extra: Explosions reported in Crimea – Ukraine struggle newest
“At the end of the reception, Kim Jong Un courteously invited Putin to visit the DPRK at a convenient time,” KCNA reported, referring to the Democratic People’s Republic of Korea, the nation’s formal identify.
The two leaders toasted their friendship on Wednesday with Russian wine after President Putin confirmed Mr Kim across the nation’s most fashionable area launch facility.
They additionally held talks alongside their defence ministers and known as one another “comrades”.
Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov additionally confirmed Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov will go to Pyongyang subsequent
month.
The burgeoning friendship has involved the West, with Washington accusing North Korea of offering weapons to Russia.
It will not be clear if any deliveries have been made and the 2 states have denied these claims in any case – however they did promise to deepen defence cooperation.
Mr Kim is due on Thursday to go to navy and civilian aviation factories within the Russian metropolis of Komsomolsk-on-Amur and to examine Russia’s Pacific fleet in Vladivostok, Mr Putin mentioned.
What form of weapons may North Korea present?
Aidan Foster-Carter, a researcher in sociology and fashionable Korea at Leeds University, instructed Sky News that North Korea can in all probability provide “good quality ammunitions” to Russia.
He mentioned Mr Putin and Mr Kim every had one thing the opposite needed – however it was nonetheless unclear precisely what that was going to be.
Russia wants artillery shells, he mentioned, and he’s “betting” Mr Kim wanted cash, meals and low-cost oil.
Asked how Mr Kim may assist Mr Putin, he mentioned North Korea was a “highly-militarised state” and targeted on producing armour.
“They probably can supply good quality ammunitions,” he mentioned.
Growing criticism
If an arms deal was to be reached, the US warned it “won’t hesitate” to slap further sanctions on the 2 nations.
South Korea, in the meantime, expressed “deep concerns” over potential navy cooperation.
Unification minister Kim Young-ho, who oversees relations with the North, expressed “deep concerns”, including Moscow and Pyongyang had been apparently chasing “some kind of” a navy deal.
But Russian diplomats dismissed criticism and accused the US of hypocrisy as its personal insurance policies had despatched weapons to allies all over the world.
“The United States has no right to lecture us on how to live,” Russia’s ambassador to the United States, Anatoly Antonov, mentioned in an announcement.
Toast to victory for ‘nice Russia’
Despite rising worldwide criticism, Mr Kim on Wednesday toasted their friendship and to the victory of “great Russia” over a lunch of Russian pelmeni dumplings, white Amur fish soup and sturgeon.
North Korea was based in September 1948 with the backing of the Soviet Union, and Moscow supported it for many years throughout the Cold War.
Support did drop after the Soviet Union collapsed in 1991, however Mr Putin visited Pyongyang in 2000 – a yr after taking on from Boris Yeltsin – for a gathering with Mr Kim’s father, Kim Jong Il.
China has been seen as the best affect over Mr Kim in recent times, however North Korea typically tries to steadiness ties between Moscow and Beijing.
Source: information.sky.com”
