Vladimir Putin, the president of Russia, made his first visit to the authoritarian state in 24 years on Tuesday night, receiving a dark floor greeting in North Korea.
North Korean leader Kim Jong-un welcomed Mr. Putin off his helicopter, and the two men exchanged evocative phrases for a while, accompanied by a military guard of honor.
The two officials next spoke in September at the Vostochny cosmodrome in Russia’s far south, but this is Mr. Putin’s first journey to Pyongyang since 2000.
Since Russia’s full-scale war of Ukraine, ties between the two outcast states have grown in recent years.
North Korea needs help with space technology after its recent failure to put a second spy satellite into orbit – as well as food, fuel, and foreign currency.
Russia’s conflict in Ukraine continues to be a lack of arms.
The United States has expressed concern about the “deepening relationship between these two locations.”
According to Russian media reports that Mr. Putin and Mr. Kim may signal a partnership agreement, including regarding protection issues, and may make combined statements to the media, the Kremlin described the journey as a “friendly state visit.”
A rally in Kim Il Sung circle is anticipated. Additionally, Mr. Putin is expected to attend a music and go to Pyongyang, the single conservative chapel in North Korea, to see the Orthodox Church of the Life-Giving Trinity.
Ahead of his entrance, Mr Putin praised Mr Kim for “firmly supporting” Moscow’s conflict in Ukraine.
Mr. Putin promised to create” business and surveillance systems with Pyongyang that are not controlled by the West” in a letter published in the North Korean state media.
The Russian leader even vowed support for Pyongyang’s efforts to defend its passions despite what he called” US pressure, coercion and military dangers”, in the article printed in Rodong Sinmun, North Korea’s ruling party mouth.
He declared that the two nations would proceed to “resolutely resist” what he called Northern intentions to “hijack the creation of a multipolarized world order based on mutual respect for righteousness.”
According to reports, Mr. Putin will be at the Pyongyang hotel where Xi Jinping next went on a state visit to North Korea in 2019.
Mr Putin’s delegation includes his new defence minister, Andrei Belousov, Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov and Deputy Prime Minister Alexander Novak.
Mr. Kim claimed last week that ties with Russia had “developed into an immovable relation of comrades- in hands.”
During their meeting last month, Mr Putin said he saw “possibilities” for military participation with North Korea, while Mr Kim wished Russia’s president “victory” in Ukraine.
The US is concerned about closer relations between North Korea and Russia, according to the White House.
” We’re not concerned about the journey” by Mr Putin, National Security Council spokesman John Kirby told investigators on Monday. The deepening relationship between these two nations is what worries us, they say.
In an effort to” store any idea that the US and its allies have been able to isolate Moscow,” Mr. Putin” strengthens relationships with its ancient Cold War lover,” according to John Nilsson- Wright, mind of the Japan and Koreas program at Cambridge University’s Centre for Geopolitics.
” He is bolstering ties between authoritarian regimes at a time when democratic institutions are in a protective place, confronting global surveillance difficulties” in the Middle East, East Asia and Ukraine, he added.
Washington and Seoul have accused Pyongyang of providing Moscow with ordnance and other products, most good in exchange for food and military support as well as technology. The existence of an arms package is denied by both Russia and North Korea.
After North Korea, Mr. Putin is scheduled to travel to Vietnam, a long-time supporter of the Communists, to discuss problems like business.
Mr Putin’s next excursion to North Korea came in 2000, at the start of his political career, when he met Mr Kim’s parents, Kim Jong Il, who was still high head.