North Korea and Russia Confirm Kim Jong-un Will Meet with Vladimir Putin

The North Korean and Russian governments confirmed Monday that North Korean dictator Kim Jong-un will meet his Russian counterpart, Vladimir Putin, within the next few days. In fact, South Korean intelligence officials said Kim has already boarded his armored train and departed for the border with Russia.

The White House has been warning about the impending Kim-Putin meeting for over a week, warning Pyongyang it would “pay a price” for selling weapons to Russia for use against Ukraine.

“We will continue to call on North Korea to abide by its public commitments not to supply weapons to Russia that will end up killing Ukrainians,” White House National Security Adviser Jake Sullivan said last Tuesday.

Last Wednesday, South Korean President Yoon Suk-yeol joined in by telling North Korea not to sell weapons to Russia.

“It would harm the security of the Republic of Korea and go against the rules, agreements and discussion items of international security at a single stroke,” a Yoon spokesperson told reporters while the South Korean president was attending an Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) summit in Jakarta.

Both North Korea and Russia refused to confirm plans for a meeting between their leaders, and insisted arms trading would not be on the agenda if they did meet. Russian Defense Minister Sergei Shoigu claimed Kim and Putin merely wanted to discuss joint military exercises.

On Monday, the Kremlin posted its first official confirmation that Putin has invited Kim to a meeting in “the coming days.” Korean state media also said the meeting would occur, but neither government would specify where and when.

The Kremlin said on Monday that Putin is scheduled to travel to Vladivostok for the Eastern Economic Forum on Monday and Tuesday. Vladivostok was the scene of the only in-person meeting between Kim and Putin to date, in 2019. It would be possible for Kim’s train to reach Vladivostok by Tuesday, assuming North Korea’s decrepit railroad system can handle the slow passage of the extremely heavy train.

Kim rarely travels abroad, and always uses his personal bulletproof luxury train when he does. His last known journey beyond North Korea’s borders was his 2019 meeting with Putin in Vladivostok.

North Korea is among the few countries to openly support Russia after it invaded Ukraine. Only North Korea and Syria have officially recognized the phony “independent republics” of Donetsk and Luhansk that Putin created by decree when he launched his invasion in February 2022.

Pyongyang has a vast stockpile of missile and artillery ammunition that Russia could use. In exchange, Russia can offer North Korea grain, oil, technology, and hard currency. Some analysts believe Kim and Putin want to at least convey the impression they are considering such a trade to apply pressure against South Korea, which has provided Ukraine with millions of dollars’ worth of supplies and has considered offering more lethal military assistance.

Russian Defense Minister Sergei Shoigu paid an unusual visit to North Korea in July, joining a Chinese delegation for a military parade and celebration of the 70th anniversary of Pyongyang’s putative victory in the Korean War. Many outside observers believed Shoigu took the occasion to shop for North Korean missiles and other munitions.