No sign of Kim Jong Un on his Russian travels as Seoul expresses concern over meetings with Putin

SEOUL, South Korea (AP) — North Korean chief Kim Jong Un was anticipated to tour a Russian plant that builds fighter jets and go to the nation’s Pacific Fleet, however his precise whereabouts remained unsure Thursday following a summit at which he expressed unconditional assist for Moscow.

Washington has warned that the summit on Wednesday between Kim and Russian President Vladimir Putin might result in a deal for North Korea to produce ammunition for Moscow’s warfare in Ukraine. There’s widespread concern in Seoul that North Korea would in return obtain superior weapons applied sciences from Russia, together with these associated to army spy satellites, which might enhance the menace posed by Kim’s army nuclear program.

“We express our deep concern and regret that despite repeated warnings from the international community, North Korea and Russia discussed military cooperation issues, including satellite development, during their summit,” mentioned Lim Soo-suk, South Korea’s Foreign Ministry spokesperson.

“Any science and technology cooperation that contributes to nuclear weapons and missile development, including satellite systems that involve ballistic missile technologies, runs against U.N. Security Council resolutions,” he mentioned in a briefing.

Lim additionally identified that Kim’s delegation in Russia contains a number of individuals sanctioned by the Security Council over involvement in illicit North Korean weapons growth actions, together with Korean People’s Army Marshal Ri Pyong Chol and Jo Chun Yong, a ruling social gathering official who handles munitions insurance policies. Lim mentioned Moscow ought to notice there shall be “very negative impacts” on its relations with Seoul if it proceeds with army cooperation with North Korea.

South Korean Unification Minister Kim Yung-ho, who handles affairs with North Korea, warned that potential arms transfers between the North and Russia would invite stronger responses from South Korea, the U.S. and Japan, which have been stepping up their trilateral safety cooperation to manage with regional threats.

White House National Security Council spokesperson John Kirby mentioned Wednesday that North Korea would face penalties if it provides arms to Russia.

“No nation on the planet, nobody, should be helping Mr. Putin kill innocent Ukrainians,” Kirby mentioned. If the nations resolve to maneuver ahead with an arms deal, the U.S. will take measure of the association and “deal with it appropriately,” he mentioned.

He mentioned that any deal that may enhance North Korea’s army capabilities “certainly would be of significant concern to us.”

The world has been largely relying on Russian and North Korean media for details about Kim’s diplomacy in Russia, which underscores an aligning curiosity between the nuclear-armed nations locked in escalating tensions with the West.

A day after giving intense protection to the summit, Russian media retailers had been silent on Kim as of Thursday afternoon. North Korean state media have been reporting on his actions in Russia a day late and crafting their stories to assist the federal government’s propaganda wants.

North Korea’s official Korean Central News Agency mentioned on Thursday that Kim had invited Putin to go to North Korea at a “convenient time” and that Putin accepted with “pleasure and reaffirmed his will to invariably carry forward” the historical past of friendship between the nations.

Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov confirmed that Putin had accepted the invitation and mentioned Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov is predicted to go to North Korea in October.

Putin informed Russian state TV after the summit that Kim will journey to 2 extra cities in Russia’s Far East on his personal, flying to Komsomolsk-on-Amur, the place he’ll go to an plane plant, after which go to Vladivostok to view Russia’s Pacific Fleet, a college and different services.

During their assembly on Wednesday at Russia’s spaceport within the Far East, Kim vowed “full and unconditional support” for Putin in what he described as a “just fight against hegemonic forces to defend its sovereign rights, security and interests,” in an obvious reference to the warfare in Ukraine.

The determination to fulfill on the Vostochny Cosmodrome recommended that Kim is in search of Russian assist in growing army reconnaissance satellites. He has beforehand mentioned they’re essential to enhancing the menace of his nuclear-capable missiles. North Korea has repeatedly failed to put spy satellites into orbit.

The plane plant in Komsomolsk-on-Amur could be one other location that presumably hints at what Kim seeks to achieve from Russia in trade for assist fueling Putin’s warfare on Ukraine.

Some analysts query whether or not Russia, which has at all times carefully guarded its delicate weapons applied sciences, could be keen to share them with North Korea in trade for what could find yourself being restricted provides of munitions moved slowly via their small land link.

They say army cooperation between the nations may very well be extra about standard capabilities, such as Russia presumably serving to North Korea enhance its badly aged air drive that continues to be reliant on fighter jets despatched by the Soviet Union within the 1980s.

Putin informed reporters that Russia and North Korea have “lots of interesting projects” in spheres like transportation and agriculture and that Moscow is offering its neighbor with humanitarian assist. But he averted speaking about army cooperation, saying solely that Russia is abiding by the sanctions prohibiting procuring weapons from North Korea.

Wednesday’s assembly got here hours after North Korea fired two ballistic missiles towards the ocean, extending a extremely provocative run in testing since 2022, as Kim used the distraction attributable to warfare in Ukraine to speed up his weapons growth.

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Litvinova reported from Tallinn, Estonia. Associated Press journalists Hyung-jin Kim in Seoul, South Korea; Mari Yamaguchi in Tokyo; and Jim Heintz in Tallinn contributed to this report.