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18-06-2024
MOSCOW: Russian President Vladimir Putin is on his way to the North Korean capital Pyongyang where he will meet leader Kim Jong Un.
The two leaders last met in September in Vladivostok but this is Putin’s first visit to Pyongyang since 2000.
The US and Seoul have accused North Korea of supplying Russia with artillery and other equipment, likely in exchange for food and military aid.
Both countries deny the existence of an arms deal but vowed last year to strengthen military ties.
Since Russia’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine, Putin has become a pariah to the West and has been seeking allies elsewhere.
After North Korea, Putin will visit Vietnam, a long-time ally both countries are expected to discuss issues such as trade.
We mentioned earlier that Putin is currently in the Russian city of Yakutsk – where he has a busy agenda over the next few hours. He is only due to fly to North Korea after.
Russian state media is airing footage of his meetings. He is currently meeting with people from various professions including teachers and doctors as well as those who have relocated to the eastern city.
He is also due to hold a meeting with the head of Yakutia, the state of which Yakutsk is a part, as well as meet with students of a music school.
Of course all this means that we still don’t know when he will arrive in Pyonyang.
News of Putin’s visit has been on almost every frontpage here in Seoul.
The conservative newspaper JoongAng Daily carried the headline “Putin to visit North Korea today… Will he conduct a dangerous exchange?”
Seoul is watching this visit with trepidation because it raises questions about what Putin’s visit will mean for an increasingly tense inter-Korean relationship.
Today the South Korean army said they fired warning shots when about 20 to 30 troops from the North crossed the demarcation line by mistake in the second such incident in just over a week.
In the last few weeks hundreds of rubbish-filled balloons sent from North Korea have crossed the border.
This prompted Seoul to scrap its 2018 military agreement with Pyongyang and resume its loudspeaker propaganda broadcasts which the North sees as an act of war.
One analyst here told me that so far Pyongyang has shown restraint in its reaction to Seoul’s latest move because of Putin’s visit. The question is what happens after.
How will Kim Jong Un, who would have basked in the optics of this unity, behave towards the South?
Media briefings, foreign intelligence sources and even satellite imagery showing preparations in Pyongyang there was just enough information to keep speculation high that President Putin’s trip to North Korea was about to happen.
Then a trip was confirmed to Yakutsk, a city in Russia’s Far East, for Tuesday daytime, which really got tongues clacking, as it could be en route.
That Putin’s “friendly state visit” to North Korea was only confirmed the day before may look last-minute and smack of nerves, but this is not unusual for the Kremlin.
There is often speculation in the Russian press ahead of the president’s trips but these can be wrong whether that’s because of intentional decoy briefings or just ill-informed sources, we can’t know.
On this occasion, the last-minute nature of the announcement may signal a desire to maintain control over the narrative.
Putin’s travel plans are tightly choreographed and meticulously planned – and the air of mystery does nothing to quash interest from the media, which the Kremlin probably doesn’t mind. (Int’l Monitoring Desk)
