Embrace, cheers: Putin gets lavish welcome in North Korea with vows of support

SEOUL – Cheering crowds amid lavish ceremonies greeted Russian President Vladimir Putin on June 19 in Pyongyang, where he met North Korean leader Kim Jong Un for a rare summit aimed at forging a partnership to counter US pressure and sanctions.

An honour guard including mounted soldiers, and a large crowd of civilians gathered at the square by the Taedong River running through the North Korean capital, video broadcast by the Russian media showed. The scene included children holding balloons, and giant portraits of the two leaders with national flags adorning the Grand People’s Study Hall.

Mr Kim and Mr Putin then headed to Kumsusan Palace of the Sun for summit talks, the Russian media said.

“We highly appreciate your consistent and unwavering support for Russian policy, including in the Ukrainian direction,” Russian state news agency RIA quoted Mr Putin as saying at the start of the talks with Mr Kim.

Mr Putin said Moscow is fighting the hegemonic, imperialist policy of the United States and its allies, the Russian media reported.

Mr Kim said North Korea-Russia relations are entering a period of new flowering, the reports said.

Mr Putin had arrived at Pyongyang’s airport earlier in the day before dawn. After Mr Kim welcomed him with an embrace, the two shared “pent-up inmost thoughts” on the ride to the state guest house, the North Korean state media said.

Mr Putin is on his first trip to the North Korean capital in 24 years, a visit likely to reshape decades of Russia-North Korea relations at a time when both countries face international isolation.

The countries’ partnership is an “engine for accelerating the building of a new multi-polar world” and Mr Putin’s visit demonstrates the invincibility and durability of their friendship and unity, North Korea’s state news agency KCNA said.

North Korea-Russia relations have “emerged as a strong strategic fortress for preserving international justice, peace and security”, KCNA said.

Moscow and Pyongyang have been allies since North Korea’s founding after World War II, and have drawn even closer since

Russia’s invasion of Ukraine in 2022

led to the West isolating Mr Putin internationally.

Russia has used its warming ties with North Korea to needle Washington, while heavily sanctioned North Korea has won political backing, and promises of economic support and trade from Moscow.

The United States and its allies say they fear Russia could provide aid for North Korea’s missile and nuclear programmes, which are banned by UN Security Council resolutions, and have accused Pyongyang of providing ballistic missiles and artillery shells that Russia has used in its war in Ukraine.

Moscow and Pyongyang have denied weapons transfers.

Mr Kim greeted Mr Putin – they shook hands, embraced and talked beside the Russian leader’s plane – and then the pair rode in the same limousine to the Kumsusan State Guest House.

Likely due to the early hours then, the welcome was a relatively subdued affair, with Mr Kim greeting the Russian leader on the red carpet without the grand ceremony North Korea put on for Chinese President Xi Jinping during his 2019 visit.

“Passing through charmingly lit streets of Pyongyang at night, the top leaders exchanged their pent-up inmost thoughts and opened their minds to more surely develop the DPRK-Russia relations,” KCNA reported, using the initials of North Korea’s official name.

State media photos showed streets of Pyongyang lined with portraits of Mr Putin, and the facade of the unfinished and vacant 101-story pyramid-shaped Ryugyong Hotel brightly lit with a giant message, “Welcome Putin”.

The planned proceedings for June 19 include one-on-one discussions between the two leaders, as well as a gala concert, state reception, honour guards, document signings and a statement to the media, Russia’s Interfax news agency quoted Mr Putin’s foreign policy advisor Yuri Ushakov as saying.

In a signal that Russia, a veto-wielding member of the UN Security Council, is reassessing its entire approach to North Korea, Mr Putin praised Pyongyang ahead of his arrival for resisting what he said was US economic pressure, blackmail and threats.

In an article carried on the front page of North Korea’s main ruling party newspaper, he promised to “develop alternative trade and mutual settlement mechanisms not controlled by the West” and “build an equal and indivisible security architecture in Eurasia”.

Mr Putin’s article implies that there is an opportunity for North Korea’s economic growth within an anti-West economic bloc led by Russia, which is a message that is likely appealing to Mr Kim, wrote Ms Rachel Minyoung Lee, an analyst with the 38 North programme in Washington.

“If Pyongyang views Russia as a viable longer-term partner for improving its economy – as irrational as this may seem to some – there is even less of an incentive for it to try to improve relations with the United States,” she said in a report.

Mr Putin also issued a presidential order on the eve of the visit saying Moscow was looking to sign a “comprehensive strategic partnership treaty” with North Korea. Mr Ushakov said it would include security issues.

Mr Ushakov said the deal would not be directed against any other country, but would “outline prospects for further cooperation”. 

US concern

The United States voiced “concern” on June 17 about Mr Putin’s trip because of the security implications for South Korea as well as Ukraine.

The two Koreas have remained technically at war since their 1950-1953 conflict and the border dividing them is one of the most heavily fortified in the world.

“We know North Korean ballistic missiles are still being used to hit Ukrainian targets (and) there could be some reciprocity here that could affect security on the Korean peninsula,” US National Security Council spokesman John Kirby told reporters.

Highlighting those security concerns, South Korea said its troops fired warning shots at soldiers from the North who briefly crossed the border on June 18 and then retreated.

The South’s military said it believed the North Korean soldiers accidentally crossed as they were fortifying the border, but said some of them were wounded after detonating landmines.

‘Lonely bromance’

Nato Secretary-General Jens Stoltenberg said Mr Putin’s trip showed how he was “dependent” on authoritarian leaders.

“Their closest friends and the biggest supporters of the Russian war effort – war of aggression – (are) North Korea, Iran and China,” Mr Stoltenberg said.

Ukraine’s Foreign Minister Dmytro Kuleba urged the international community to counter “the lonely bromance” between Mr Putin and Mr Kim by increasing arms supplies to Kyiv.

“The best way to respond to it is to continue strengthening the diplomatic coalition for just and lasting peace in Ukraine, and delivering more Patriots and ammunition to Ukraine,” Mr Kuleba told AFP.

North Korea is eager for high-end military technology to advance its nuclear, missile, satellite and nuclear-powered submarine programmes, according to experts.

Given North Korea’s chronic resource shortages, Pyongyang is expected to discuss ways to strengthen cooperation in areas such as tourism, agriculture and mining “in exchange for providing military supplies” to Russia, a report from Seoul-based Institute for National Security Strategy (INSS) said.

Other issues including “cooperation on the deployment of North Korean workers or the supply of energy to North Korea – both of which would violate sanctions... are also likely to be discussed” behind the scenes, INSS researcher Kim Sung-bae wrote. AFP, REUTERS