Kim Jong Un, Putin meet for arms talks at Russian spaceport

Asked by reporters whether he and Kim would discuss arms sales, Putin said that they would address “all the questions” and that “there is time,” the state news agency RIA Novosti reported. Putin also suggested that Russia could help North Korea develop satellites, noting that Kim was “showing great interest in rocket technology.”

During his tour of the spaceport, Kim appeared to ask detailed questions about the technology used there.

Kim’s private train arrived in Khasan, a Russian station just across North Korea’s northeastern border, early Tuesday local time, North Korean state media reported Wednesday. He was greeted on a red carpet by Natural Resources Minister Alexander Kozlov and regional Gov. Oleg Kozhemyako, as well as an honor guard and a military band, the North Korean state news agency KCNA said.

Kim said his visit to Russia, which is his first since 2019, as well as his first trip outside North Korea after three years of pandemic isolation, showed that his government is “prioritizing the strategic importance” of North Korea-Russia relations.

The two U.S. adversaries have been drawing closer as their leaders face deepening diplomatic isolation — Putin over his 18-month war in Ukraine and Kim over his continued development of nuclear weapons and ballistic missile programs in violation of international sanctions.