Kim Jong-un arrives in Russia in his armored train to meet with Putin

The North Korean dictator has traveled abroad for the first time in nearly four years. The U.S. warns him that he must "honor public commitments" to "neither provide nor sell arms" to the Kremlin.

Kim Jong-un, Vladimir Putin — (Wikimedia Commons)

Published by

Verónica Silveri Pazos

12 de septiembre, 2023

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North Korean dictator Kim Jong-un traveled to Russia on Tuesday to meet with the country's president, Vladimir Putin. According to Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov, the official visit is being carried out in order to close "negotiations" and strengthen the relationship between the two nations:

There will be negotiations between two delegations, and after that, if necessary, the leaders will continue their communication in a one-on-one format.

Kim's first international trip in four years

The visit marks Kim's first trip abroad since before the start of the covid pandemic (four years). The dictator traveled in his luxurious armored train accompanied by senior officials of his government, including military personnel and specialists in the arms industry, according to the North's official KCNA news agency.

The same media was in charge of revealing some images of Kim's departure from Pyongyang (capital of North Korea). In the photographs, Kim is seen with soldiers at one of the doors of the train.

Among the negotiations: the possible supply of weapons

Kim arrives in Russia while Putin is in the city of Vladivostok for an Economic Forum. It is not known if the North Korean dictator will attend the event, nor has the location of the meeting between the two leaders been confirmed.

Among the "negotiations" that would be on the table, warns the US, could be an agreement to supply North Korean weapons to Russia. Kim, in exchange for this, would ask Putin for support in the food, energy and technology matters for his country.

From the US they ask to "fulfill public commitments"

The spokeswoman for the National Security Council of the White House, Adrienne Watson, spoke about the visit and in statements to Fox urged Kim "to fulfill the public commitments that Pyongyang has assumed and not to provide or sell weapons to Russia."

As we have warned publicly, arms discussions between Russia and the DPRK [Democratic People's Republic of Korea] are expected to continue during Kim Jong-Un’s trip to Russia. We urge the DPRK to abide by the public commitments that Pyongyang has made to not provide or sell arms to Russia.

State Department spokesman Matthew Miller stated at a press conference, that the "transfer of arms from North Korea to Russia would violate multiple UN Security Council resolutions":

I will remind both countries that any transfer of arms from North Korea to Russia would be in violation of multiple United Nations Security Council resolutions. And we of course have aggressively enforced our sanctions against entities that fund Russia’s war effort, and we will continue to enforce those sanctions and will not hesitate to impose new sanctions if appropriate.