Russian President Vladimir Putin and North Korean leader Kim Jong-un will discuss “sensitive issues” that will not be disclosed to the public, the Kremlin said on Tuesday, after Western media claimed that both countries could agree an exchange of weapons and military resources.
“Of course, being neighbors, our countries also cooperate in sensitive areas, which should not be the subject of any public disclosure or announcement. But this is quite natural for neighboring states,” Kremlin spokesman Dmitri Peskov told reporters. local media from Vladivostok, in the Far East.
He noted that the talks between the two leaders will include issues related to bilateral relations and cooperation, commercial and economic ties and cultural exchanges, as well as international and regional affairs, but also those “sensitive issues.”
“For us, the interests of our two countries are important and not the warnings from Washington,” he said when commenting on the US warnings about military-technical cooperation between the two countries, according to the Interfax agency.
Last week the New York Times reported that Putin would like North Korea to sell artillery and anti-tank missiles to Russia that Moscow could use in Ukraine. while Pyongyang would like satellite or nuclear propulsion technology in exchange for submarines, in addition to food aid.
Russian Deputy Foreign Minister Andrei Rudenko noted today, also in Vladivostok, that the issue of providing humanitarian aid to North Korea may be one of the issues that Putin and Kim address, while Peskov added that Russia is willing to continue In addition, talks about Western sanctions on Pyongyang should the North Korean “comrades” wish to address this issue.
The Kremlin spokesman, who has not yet revealed the exact day and location in the Far East where the summit, the second since April 2019, will take place, sHe stated that there will be negotiations between the two delegations that accompany the two leadersa face-to-face “communication” between Putin and Kim, an official dinner in honor of the North Korean leader, but “no press conferences are planned.”
It is believed, however, that the meeting will take place on Wednesday, once Putin has finished his commitments at the Eastern Economic Forum in Vladivostok, where he will speak in the plenary session today.
Kim’s train crossed the border with Russia on Tuesday, according to the South Korean Ministry of National Defense and Russian state television.
According to a brief text sent to the media by a spokesperson for the South Korean Joint Chiefs of Staff (JCS), the train crossed the Tuman River Friendship Bridge, the only land transportation route that connects the two countries, “early in the morning ” (local time) today.
At the moment it is unknown if the pertinent changes have been made to Kim Jong-un’s train so that it can circulate on the Russian railway tracks (whose gauge is different from that used in North Korea), a procedure that may take hours.
From the North Korean capital to the border bridge over the Tuman River there are about 560 kilometerswhile from Khasan, the first Russian station on the other side of the divide, to Vladivostok, there remain another 200 kilometers of railway tracks.
According to photos published by North Korean media, Kim is accompanied by the Ministers of Foreign and Defense, Choe Son-hui and Kang Sun-nam, and senior military representatives, including the director of the Industrial Department of Munitions, Jo Chun-ryong.
Also in the delegation appears to be Pak Thae-song, secretary for Science and Education of the Central Committee of the Workers’ Party who is linked to the North Korean space program.
