Seoul, Sep 17: A day after inspecting Russia’s nuclear-capable bombers and other advanced weapons, North Korean leader Kim Jong Un on Sunday continued a trip to Russia’s Far East with a visit to a university in Vladivostok, while his state media back home reported on his efforts to expand military cooperation with Moscow.
Kim’s visit to the Far Eastern Federal University came a day after Russian Defence Minister Sergei Shoigu and other senior military officials showed him some of Russia’s most advanced weapons systems deployed for its war on Ukraine, including strategic bombers and hypersonic missiles, and a key warship of its Pacific fleet.
Kim also discussed with Shoigu strengthening “strategic and tactical coordination” between the countries’ militaries, the North’s Korean Central News Agency said, as concerns grow about an arms alliance that could possibly fuel Russian President Vladimir Putin’s war on Ukraine.
While Kim’s predominant focus is on military cooperation, he also appears to be using his trip to encourage broader exchanges between the countries as he tries to break out of diplomatic isolation.
Russia’s RIA Novosti state news agency released a video of Kim dressed in a black suit and accompanied by his top officials arriving at the university on Russky Island.
Kim was later expected to meet Oleg Kozhemyako, governor of Russia’s Primorye region, which includes Vladivostok, for discussions on exchange programs for schoolchildren to attend summer camps in each other’s country, and also visit some food industry businesses in the region.
Kim’s trip, highlighted by a summit with Putin on Wednesday, has underscored how their interests are aligning in the face of separate, intensifying confrontations with the West.
US and South Korean officials have said North Korea could provide badly needed munitions for Moscow’s war on Ukraine in exchange for sophisticated Russian weapons technology that would advance Kim’s nuclear ambitions.
A day after visiting an aircraft plant in Komsomolsk-on-Amur that produces Russia’s most powerful fighter jets, Kim on Saturday travelled to an airport near Vladivostok, where Shoigu and other senior military officials gave him an up-close look at Russia’s strategic bombers and other warplanes.
All the Russian warplanes shown to Kim were among the types that have seen active use in the war in Ukraine, including the Tu-160, Tu-95 and Tu-22 bombers that have regularly launched cruise missiles.
During Kim’s visit, Shoigu and Lt. Gen. Sergei Kobylash, the commander of the Russian long-range bomber force, confirmed for the first time that the Tu-160 had recently received new cruise missiles with a range of more than 6,500 kilometres (over 4,040 miles).
Shoigu, who had met Kim during a rare visit to North Korea in July, also showed Kim another of Russia’s latest missiles, the hypersonic Kinzhal, carried by the MiG-31 fighter jet, that saw its first combat during the war in Ukraine.
Kim and Shoigu later travelled to Vladivostok, where they inspected the Admiral Shaposhnikov frigate. Russia’s navy commander, Adm. Nikolai Yevmenov, briefed Kim on the ship’s capabilities and weapons, which include long-range Kalibr cruise missiles that Russian warships have regularly fired at targets in Ukraine.
On Sunday, Kim began his journey back to North Korea aboard his armoured train from the Primorye region in Russia’s Far East, following a farewell ceremony at a train station, Russia’s state news agency RIA said. (AP)
