President Vladimir V. Putin of Russia will begin a state visit to North Korea on Tuesday to meet with the North Korean leader, Kim Jong Un, the Kremlin and North Korean state media It will be the second meeting in nine months between the two sides, who are deepening military ties to support Putin’s war in Ukraine using North Korean weapons.
Putin last visited North Korea in 2000, when he became the first Russian or Soviet leader to do so. The visit underscored North Korea’s growing strategic importance to Putin. Especially its ability Providing much-needed conventional weapons for the war in Ukraine.
It was a rare moment for Kim Jong Un when his country — a pariah in the West — was sought out as an ally.
“At the invitation of Chairman of the State Affairs Commission of the Democratic People’s Republic of Korea Kim Jong-un, Vladimir Putin will pay a friendly state visit to the Democratic People’s Republic of Korea from June 18 to 19,” the Kremlin said.
Just days before Putin arrived in the North Korean capital, Pyongyang, the Kremlin vowed to strengthen cooperation with North Korea “in all fields.” The new era in relations between the two countries was already evident when the two leaders met in Russia’s Far East in September.
Pyongyang and Moscow were Cold War allies whose relations cooled after the collapse of the Soviet Union, but have come closer again in the past few years as both countries have grown hostile toward the United States — Russia’s war in Ukraine and North Korea’s attacks on its nuclear weapons program.
