North Korean dictator Kim Jong Un has left Pyongyang on his late father’s armored train for a previously unannounced summit with President Vladimir Putin, his first trip abroad since before the COVID-19 pandemic.
“Respected Comrade Kim Jong -un, General Secretary of the Workers’ Party of Korea and Chairman of the State Affairs Commission of the Democratic People’s Republic of Korea, departed Pyongyang by private train on the afternoon of September 10 to visit the Russian Federation,” North Korean State media outlet Rodong Sinmun reported Monday, adding that a “farewell crowd” had gathered around the “special train” to see the delegation off.
Russian state media agency RT published a video purporting to show the famously slow-moving train en route to Moscow just hours before Kim’s departure was confirmed by North Korean officials.
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The Kremlin boss hopes to use the meeting, in Vladivostok on Tuesday or Wednesday, to persuade Kim to step up arms sales to bolster his illegal invasion of Ukraine. With domestic production hit by international sanctions, Russian army chiefs are especially keen to get their hands on North Korea’s huge stockpile of 152-mm ammo shells—conveniently based on old Soviet designs—to complement drone supplies from Iran.
Kim last visited Vladivostok, 4,000 miles east of Moscow but just 75 miles from North Korea’s tiny land border with Russia, in April 2019 for a formal summit that saw the eastern port city adorned with North Korean flags with their distinctive five-pointed stars.
That was Kim’s last proper foreign trip--although he did meet with then-President Donald Trump in the demilitarized zone between the two Koreas in June 2019.
Kim’s departure on the train built for his father, Kim Jong Il, was reported by various South Korean media organizations, citing Seoul government sources. Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov later confirmed Kim’s state visit, saying there would be formal meetings between the two delegations “and, if necessary, a one-on-one meeting.”
Reuters reported an extra police presence in Vladivostok, but said no extra national flags were on display. “Both countries show teeth to the whole world and can stand for themselves. So, there is something in common,” a Vladivostok resident named only as Fyodor told the news agency.
Putin arrived in Vladivostok Monday to attend the Eastern Economic Forum, according to Russia’s RIA News.
