The White House announced Monday that North Korean leader Kim Jong-un intends to hold talks with Russian President Vladimir Putin in Russia as part of the ongoing “arms negotiations” between the two countries with the aim of supplying Moscow with North Korean weapons.
The White House announced last week that Moscow is secretly holding intense talks with Pyongyang to obtain from it quantities of ammunition and supplies needed for its war in Ukraine.
“As we have previously warned publicly, arms negotiations between Russia and the DPRK are progressing rapidly,” said Adrienne Watson, a spokeswoman for the US National Security Council.
“We have information that Kim Jong-un expects these talks to continue to include diplomatic dialogue in Russia at the leadership level,” she added.
For its part, The New York Times reported that Kim, who rarely travels outside his country, will most likely travel in September to Vladivostok, located on the Russian Pacific coast near North Korea, to meet Putin.
The newspaper said that Kim may visit Moscow, but this has not been confirmed.
US National Security Council spokesman John Kirby said last week that North Korea, despite its denials, supplied Russia last year with missiles used by the Wagner private military group in Ukraine.
Watson added that Russian Defense Minister Sergei Shoigu traveled to North Korea in August to seek additional ammunition for the war his country is waging in Ukraine.
“We urge the DPRK to stop arms negotiations with Russia and abide by the public commitments made by Pyongyang not to supply or sell weapons to Russia,” she said.
“As we have warned publicly, arms negotiations between Russia and the DPRK are progressing rapidly,” she noted.
And the United States, Britain, South Korea and Japan announced last week at the United Nations in a joint statement that any agreement to increase bilateral cooperation between Russia and North Korea would be a violation of UN Security Council resolutions banning arms deals with Pyongyang, which are resolutions supported by Moscow itself.
The four countries added that after Shoigu’s visit to Pyongyang, another group of Russian officials traveled to North Korea to follow up on talks on arms purchases.
Any talks between Kim and Putin would come as Ukraine launched a counter-offensive in the south and east of the country that Putin deemed unsuccessful.
“It’s a failure,” Putin said Monday about the Ukrainian attack, adding, “At least this is what it looks like today. Let’s see what happens next.”
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2023-09-05 00:17:16