SEOUL, South Korea (AP) — North Korean leader Kim Jong Un returns home Sunday from Russia, ending a six-day trip that sparked global concerns over arms transfer deals between the two countries locked in separate clashes. with the West.
Kim’s armored train departed to the sound of the Russian patriotic march song “Farewell to Slavianka” at the end of a farewell ceremony at a train station in Artyom, a city in Russia’s far east about 200 kilometers (124 miles) ) of the border with North Korea. , reported the Russian state news agency RIA.
Senior officials, including Russia’s Natural Resources Minister Alexander Kozlov and Primorye Regional Governor Oleg Kozhemyako, were present at the ceremony, in which a Russian military band played the national anthems of North Korea and Russia.
It was Kim’s longest overseas trip since he took power in late 2011. Observers said Kim was expected to return to Pyongyang, North Korea’s capital, around Monday afternoon.
Since entering Russia last Tuesday on his first overseas trip in more than four years, Kim has met with President Vladimir Putin and visited key military and technological sites, underscoring deepening defense cooperation between the countries against to separate and intensified confrontations with the United States and its allies. Foreign officials and experts have said North Korea could provide much-needed munitions for Moscow’s war against Ukraine in exchange for sophisticated Russian weapons technology that would boost Kim’s nuclear ambitions.
In this photo released by the Government of the Primorsky Krai region, North Korean leader Kim Jong Un waves as he boards his train before leaving Artyom, near Vladivostok, in the Russian Far East, Sunday, September 2023. via REUTERS
North Korea may have tens of millions of old artillery shells and rockets based on Soviet designs that could bolster Russian forces in Ukraine, analysts say, even though its old artillery systems have a reputation for being inaccurate. Both sides have reportedly been firing thousands of artillery shells a day.
UN Security Council resolutions, which permanent member Russia previously endorsed, prohibit North Korea from exporting or importing weapons. Observers say Russia’s alleged attempts to receive ammunition and artillery shells from North Korea suggest Moscow’s desperation to refill its arsenal depleted in the war with Ukraine.
“Military cooperation between North Korea and Russia is illegal and unjust as it contravenes UN Security Council resolutions and various other international sanctions,” South Korean President Yoon Suk Yeol said in written responses to questions on Sunday. from The Associated Press. “The international community will come together more closely in response to such a move.”
Kim Jong Un, center, walks past honor guard soldiers before leaving Artyom, near Vladivostok, Russia.AP
In exchange for supplying conventional weapons to Russia, experts say North Korea would seek economic and food aid from Russia, but also technology transfers to build powerful missiles, a nuclear-powered submarine and a spy satellite. North Korea has publicly sought to introduce high-tech weapons systems, citing what it called the escalation of U.S.-led hostilities.
Earlier Sunday, Kim was in a more relaxed mode, touring a university and watching a walrus show at a Russian aquarium. Russian state media published videos of Kim, accompanied by his senior officials, speaking to Russian officials through translators on the campus of the Far Eastern Federal University on Russky Island.
At the island’s Primorsky Aquarium, Russia’s largest, Kim watched performances by beluga whales, bottlenose dolphins, sea lions and the walrus “Misha,” which he seemed to particularly enjoy, according to Russian media.
Russian officials greet the train carrying North Korean leader Kim Jong Un as it leaves a train station in the city of Artyom.via REUTERS
Kozhemyako, the governor of Primorye, said a Russian Far Eastern delegation would visit North Korea. According to Russian state media, Kozhemyako said he will be part of the delegation that will travel with specialists from the commercial, tourism and agricultural sectors. The exact timing of the visit to North Korea has not been announced.
On Saturday, Kim traveled to an airport near Vladivostok, where Defense Minister Sergei Shoigu and other top military officials gave him a close-up look at Russian strategic bombers and other fighter jets. Kim and Shoigu later that day went to Vladivostok, where they inspected the frigate Admiral Shaposhnikov.
On Friday, Kim visited an aircraft plant in the city of Komsomolsk-on-Amur that produces Russia’s most powerful fighter jets.
The Russian fighter jets shown to Kim on Saturday were among the types that have seen action in Ukraine, including Tu-160, Tu-95 and Tu-22 bombers that have regularly launched cruise missiles. During Kim’s visit, Shoigu and Lieutenant General Sergei Kobylash, commander of the Russian long-range bomber force, confirmed for the first time that the Tu-160 had recently received new cruise missiles with a range of more than 6,500 kilometers (6,500 kilometers). more than 6,500 kilometers). 4,040 miles).
Shoigu, who had met Kim during a rare visit to North Korea in July, also showed Kim another of the latest Russian missiles, the Kinzhal hypersonic, carried by the MiG-31 fighter jet, which took part in its first combat during the war in Ukraine.
North Korean state media reported that Kim and Shoigu discussed the regional security environment and exchanged views on “practical issues arising to further strengthen strategic and tactical coordination, cooperation and mutual exchange between the armed forces.” of the two countries”.
Kim’s summit with Putin was held at Russia’s main space launch site, a location that signaled his desire to receive Russian help in his efforts to acquire space-based reconnaissance assets and missile technologies. In recent months, two North Korean launches to send a spy satellite into space have ended in failure, and the North has promised to make a third attempt in October.
During the meeting with Putin, Kim said his country would offer its “full and unconditional support” to Russia’s fight to defend its security interests, in an apparent reference to the war in Ukraine. Kim invited Putin to visit North Korea at “a convenient time” and Putin accepted.
It was Kim’s second summit with Putin. The previous meeting took place in Vladivostok in April 2019, two months after Kim’s high-stakes nuclear diplomacy with then-US President Donald Trump collapsed during their second summit in Vietnam.
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Source: vtt.edu.vn