Putin meets Kim in a telling location Why the Gulf States are becoming global ATMs

For their first meeting in years in the Russian Far East, President Vladimir Putin and North Korean leader Kim Jong Un have clearly chosen the new Russian spaceport Vostochny as the meeting point. After the head of the Kremlin, the ruler from Pyongyang also arrived at the train station in his heavily armored special train on Wednesday morning, the Russian state news agency Tass reported. Political talks were said to be planned during the day.

It is believed that Putin and Kim will discuss arms deals. Russia urgently needs ammunition for its war of aggression against Ukraine. North Korea, in turn, will likely hope for Russian technology to build satellites and nuclear submarines, for example. For Kim, who previously emphasized the “strategic importance of the relationship” between the two countries, it is the second visit to Russia after a meeting with Putin in Vladivostok in April 2019.

Putin promises Kim help with the space program

The meeting in the Russian Far East will mainly focus on one topic: Russia’s war of aggression against Ukraine. The US suspects Russia of using the date to buy North Korean weapons and ammunition. It would be a violation of the international taboo, which could further escalate the war.

Moscow and Pyongyang deny the accusation, but experts say the deal may already be done. In return, North Korea could be interested in Russian satellite and missile technology, in addition to food and fertilizer. North Korea operates its own space program and a few weeks ago tried again unsuccessfully to send its own spy satellite into space.

The location of their meeting – Russia’s state-of-the-art Vostochny cosmodrome, from which the Soyuz-2 rocket was launched (and failed) to the moon in August – could be an indication that Russia could provide expertise to the North’s space program Korea.

(t-online/dpa)