Boosting ties: Shoigu (left), who arrived at Pyongyang Airport, being received by Party Secretary Park Chung-cheon (right). — AP
A top security aide to Russian President Vladimir Putin arrived in Pyongyang for a meeting with North Korean leader Kim Jong-un amid talk of a potential summit between the two leaders.
Russian Security Council Secretary Sergei Shoigu visited North Korea to meet with Kim and other senior officials, Russia’s TASS news agency reported in a two-sentence dispatch yesterday.
The trip comes less than a week after Russia’s Deputy Foreign Minister Andrey Rudenko discussed “the itinerary of high-level and top-level contacts” with his North Korean counterparts in Pyongyang, raising speculation over a summit between the two countries.
North Korean leader Kim has emerged as a key ally of Putin and his war in Ukraine, helping boost Moscow’s fighting presence on the ground while raising concerns about North Korea’s ability to strengthen its military and sustain its regime with Russian backing.
The last time they met in Pyongyang in June, the two leaders agreed to provide immediate military assistance if one of them is attacked, reviving an agreement dating back to the Cold War. It was Putin’s first visit to North Korea in 24 years during which he invited Kim to visit Moscow.
On Thursday, Kim tested a new anti-aircraft missile system and visited a shipyard as part of a push to bolster his naval forces, reminding of the security risks North Korea poses in the region.
South Korea, meanwhile, remains in limbo amid a leadership vacuum triggered by President Yoon Suk-yeol’s short-lived martial law declaration in December.
Acting President Choi Sang-mok has not been able to set up a call with President Donald Trump, two months into his term, and is now facing an impeachment motion from the opposition party. — Bloomberg
