This North Korea-Russia summit was quite different in many ways from the meeting four years ago.
There were clear signs that Russia was paying attention to North Korea’s position.
The assessment is that this reflects the situation of Russia, which is in dire need of weapons support.
This is reporter Kyung-hee Lee.
[Reporter]
In April 2019, North Korean Chairman Kim Jong-un’s first visit to Russia took place immediately after the North Korea-US summit in Hanoi.
Although it ended in a breakdown, the atmosphere of negotiations between North Korea and North Korea was not completely broken, and the level of closeness between North Korea and Russia was different from now.
<Kim Jong-un / North Korean State Affairs Commission Chairman (April 2019)> “The world’s focus is now focused on the Korean Peninsula issue, and we will work together to evaluate the Korean Peninsula policy, share each other’s views, and jointly coordinate research on this issue in the future. “I think it will be a very meaningful conversation as we move forward.”
At the time, North Korea appeared to be reaching out to Russia while denuclearization negotiations with the United States were not going well, but this time, the opposite atmosphere was created.
Russia, which is experiencing difficulties due to the prolonged war in Ukraine, has actively sent courting gestures to North Korea.
Reflecting Chairman Kim’s preference, the venue for the meeting was chosen as the Vostochny Cosmodrome, which is a symbol of Russia’s rocket satellite technology, and President Putin, who is known for being late, waited for 30 minutes to greet Chairman Kim.
He personally guided the space base and also hinted at technical support.
<Vladimir Putin / Russian President (yesterday)> “It is nice to meet you at the Vostochny launch site as we promised. I think Chairman Kim Jong-un is also very interested in space technology.”
This scene is interpreted as showing how desperate토토사이트 President Putin is for the supply of weapons while Ukraine’s counteroffensive is making some progress.
The meeting agenda also focused on military cooperation rather than economic cooperation, and North Korea’s entourage also changed accordingly.
The change in not only the attitude of the two leaders but also the overall atmosphere of the meeting was influenced by the situation around the Korean Peninsula, which has completely turned into a new Cold War.
It is assessed that this was a meeting to formalize the close relationship between North Korea, China, and Russia in response to the cooperation between South Korea, the United States, and Japan amidst the breakdown in denuclearization talks between the United States and North Korea’s acceleration of its nuclear development drive.
This is Lee Kyung-hee of Yonhap News TV .