Kim Invites Putin to North Korea 

14 September 2023, Russia, Uglegorsk: Russian President Vladimir Putin (R) and North Korean leader Kim Jong-un visit the Vostochny Cosmodrome space launch center outside the city of Uglegorsk, about 200 kilometers from the city of Blagoveshchensk in the far eastern Amur region. (KCNA via YNA/dpa)
14 September 2023, Russia, Uglegorsk: Russian President Vladimir Putin (R) and North Korean leader Kim Jong-un visit the Vostochny Cosmodrome space launch center outside the city of Uglegorsk, about 200 kilometers from the city of Blagoveshchensk in the far eastern Amur region. (KCNA via YNA/dpa)
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Kim Invites Putin to North Korea 

14 September 2023, Russia, Uglegorsk: Russian President Vladimir Putin (R) and North Korean leader Kim Jong-un visit the Vostochny Cosmodrome space launch center outside the city of Uglegorsk, about 200 kilometers from the city of Blagoveshchensk in the far eastern Amur region. (KCNA via YNA/dpa)
14 September 2023, Russia, Uglegorsk: Russian President Vladimir Putin (R) and North Korean leader Kim Jong-un visit the Vostochny Cosmodrome space launch center outside the city of Uglegorsk, about 200 kilometers from the city of Blagoveshchensk in the far eastern Amur region. (KCNA via YNA/dpa)

Kim Jong Un invited Russian President Vladimir Putin to visit North Korea during a rare summit, stoking US concerns that a revived Moscow-Pyongyang axis could bolster Russia's military in Ukraine and provide Kim sensitive missile technology.

Putin accepted the invitation, according to North Korean state news agency KCNA, though there was no immediate confirmation from the Kremlin. Since Russia's 2022 invasion of Ukraine, Putin has rarely travelled abroad.

Calling each other "comrades", the two leaders celebrated to their friendship on Wednesday after the 70-year-old Putin showed Kim, 39, around Russia's most modern space launch facility and they held talks alongside their defense ministers.

"At the end of the reception, Kim Jong Un courteously invited Putin to visit the DPRK at a convenient time," KCNA said, referring to the Democratic People's Republic of Korea, North Korea's formal name.

"Putin accepted the invitation with pleasure and reaffirmed his will to invariably carry forward the history and tradition of the Russia-DPRK friendship," KCNA said.

For the United States and allies, the burgeoning friendship between Kim and Putin is a concern: Washington has accused North Korea of providing arms to Russia, but it is unclear whether any deliveries have been made.

Both Russia and North Korea have denied those claims, but promised to deepen defense cooperation, and during a visit to North Korea in July, Defense Minister Sergei Shoigu was shown banned ballistic missiles by Kim.

Kim is due on Thursday to visit military and civilian aviation factories in the Russian city of Komsomolsk-on-Amur and to inspect Russia's Pacific fleet in Vladivostok, Putin said.

'Friendship'

Over a sumptuous lunch of Russian "pelmeni" dumplings made with Kamchatka crab, white Amur fish soup and sturgeon, Kim on Wednesday toasted to Putin's health, to the victory of "great Russia" and to Korean-Russian friendship, predicting victory for Moscow in its "sacred fight" with the West.

North Korea was founded in September 1948 with the backing of the Soviet Union, and Moscow supported it for decades during the Cold War, though support dropped off after the 1991 collapse of the Soviet Union.

In recent years, China has been seen as the power with the most influence over Kim, but Pyongyang's leaders have often tried to balance ties with both Moscow and Beijing.

After taking over from Boris Yeltsin in 1999, Putin visited Pyongyang in July 2000 for a meeting with Kim Jong Il, the father of Kim Jong Un.

At the summit on Wednesday, it was unclear just how far Putin was prepared to go in fulfilling North Korean wish lists for technology.

Amid the grinding artillery battles in Ukraine, Russia has ramped up its shell production, but a North Korean supply line could be useful.

North Korea is believed to have a large stockpile of artillery shells and rockets compatible with Soviet-era weapons, as well as a history of producing such ammunition.

Asked whether Russia could simply remove sanctions on North Korea, Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov said Russia remained a responsible member of the UN Security Council.

But Peskov added that Moscow would develop its relations with North Korea in accordance with its own interests.

The US State Department said the Biden administration "won't hesitate" to impose additional sanctions on Russia and North Korea if they conclude any new arms deals.

Russian diplomats said the United States was hypocritical to criticize the summit because Washington had sown chaos and sent weapons to allies across the world.

"The United States has no right to lecture us on how to live," Russia's ambassador to the United States, Anatoly Antonov, said in a statement.

South Korea's unification minister, Kim Young-ho, who is in charge of relations with the North, expressed "deep concerns" over military cooperation and possible arms transactions between Pyongyang and Moscow, saying the two countries were apparently continuing to pursue "some kind of" a military deal.



Kremlin: Putin Not Ruling Out Talks with Ukraine, but Wants Guarantees

Russian President Vladimir Putin is seen on a TV camera screen as he speaks during a meeting at the Russian Foreign Ministry in Moscow, Russia, Friday, June 14, 2024. (AP Photo/Alexander Zemlianichenko, Pool)
Russian President Vladimir Putin is seen on a TV camera screen as he speaks during a meeting at the Russian Foreign Ministry in Moscow, Russia, Friday, June 14, 2024. (AP Photo/Alexander Zemlianichenko, Pool)
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Kremlin: Putin Not Ruling Out Talks with Ukraine, but Wants Guarantees

Russian President Vladimir Putin is seen on a TV camera screen as he speaks during a meeting at the Russian Foreign Ministry in Moscow, Russia, Friday, June 14, 2024. (AP Photo/Alexander Zemlianichenko, Pool)
Russian President Vladimir Putin is seen on a TV camera screen as he speaks during a meeting at the Russian Foreign Ministry in Moscow, Russia, Friday, June 14, 2024. (AP Photo/Alexander Zemlianichenko, Pool)

Russian President Vladimir Putin is not ruling out talks with Ukraine, but guarantees will be needed to ensure the credibility of any negotiations, Russian news agencies cited Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov as saying on Sunday.

More than 90 countries took part in a two-day event at the Buergenstock resort in central Switzerland aimed at uniting global opinion on how to end Moscow's 27-month-old invasion.
Russia was not invited to those talks.

Kyiv's positions have been taken into consideration in the final communique for the summit, Ukrainian Foreign Minister Dmytro Kuleba said on Sunday.

"The text is balanced, all of our principled positions on which Ukraine had insisted have been considered," he told reporters.

Kuleba also hinted that Russia could be involved in a future summit but dismissed Putin's demand on Friday that Kyiv cede four regions of Ukraine that Russia has occupied and drop its goal of joining NATO.