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DiplomacyPutin accepted Kim’s invitation and agreed to visit North Korea
After a meeting in Russia on Wednesday, Vladimir Putin agreed to visit North Korea at the invitation of Kim Jong Un.
Vladimir Putin and Kim Jong Un at Vostochny Cosmodrome, Russia on September 13, 2023.
AFP
Russian President Vladimir Putin has agreed to visit North Korea at the invitation of North Korean leader Kim Jong Un, North Korea’s official KCNA news agency reported on Thursday.
KCNA reported that at the end of Wednesday’s meeting between the two in Russia, “Kim Jong Un respectfully invited Putin, DPRK (Democratic People’s Republic of Korea, editor’s note) when it suits him.” of North Korea. “Putin gladly accepted the invitation and reaffirmed his unwavering desire to continue to advance the history and tradition of Russia-DPRK friendship,” the agency said.
On the same day, Kim Jong Un assured Vladimir Putin that Moscow would achieve a “tremendous victory” against its enemies as Russia has been at war in Ukraine for more than a year and a half.
“Expectations”
Vladimir Putin, toasting “strengthening future cooperation” with Pyongyang, spoke to reporters of the “possibilities” of military cooperation with North Korea despite international sanctions over its nuclear programs and missiles in development. The US has expressed “concern” that Russia is interested in buying North Korean weapons to support its aggression in Ukraine.
The Russian president also raised the possibility of Russia helping Pyongyang build satellites after North Korea failed to put a military spy satellite into orbit twice recently.
Japan on Thursday underlined the risk of “violation” of United Nations sanctions on North Korea’s weapons. “We are monitoring (discussions between Moscow and Pyongyang, editor’s note) with concern,” declared new Japanese Foreign Minister Yoko Kamikawa, particularly “as it potentially violates the United Nations Security Council’s ban on arms-related transactions with North Korea.”
Russia offers to send North Korean into space
Russia has offered Pyongyang to send a North Korean astronaut into space, Russian agencies said on Wednesday. According to agencies, the offer was made during Kim Jong Un’s extraordinary visit to the Russian Far East.
“We talked about the fact that if the North Korean side wants to, it can train and send a North Korean astronaut into space,” Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov said.
If Pyongyang accepts, it would be the first North Korean to reach Earth orbit. In 2008, Yi So-yeon became the first South Korean to achieve this by boarding a Russian Soyuz spacecraft for a mission on the International Space Station (ISS).
(AFP)
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