What are the talks between Vladimir Putin and Kim Jong-un at Vostochny about?

Vladimir Putin and Kim Jong-un hold talks at the Vostochny cosmodrome in the Amur region. This is the second visit of the North Korean leader to Russia. The first was in 2019, they met in Vladivostok. The Russian President said that he was glad to see Kim Jong-un in Russia and to receive him at the cosmodrome.

“We are proud of how this industry is developing here, and this is our new facility,” Putin said. He noted that the meetings are taking place against the backdrop of the recent celebration of the 75th anniversary of the DPRK and the establishment of diplomatic relations “between our countries.” “Then very soon we will celebrate the 70th anniversary of the end of the War of Independence and the victory of the Korean people in this war. This is a significant date, since our country also helped our friends in the Democratic People’s Republic of Korea fight for this independence,” Putin said. After this, he added that the negotiations will also be devoted to issues of an economic and humanitarian nature.

The North Korean leader, in turn, thanked Putin for being so warmly received in Russia. Kim Jong-un supported Russia “in the fight against imperialism.” According to him, North Korea has always supported Putin’s decisions. He also emphasized the role of the USSR in the history of the DPRK.

From the Russian side, the negotiations were attended by Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov, Deputy Prime Ministers Denis Manturov, Alexei Overchuk, Yuri Trutnev, Marat Khusnullin and presidential press secretary Dmitry Peskov. From the DPRK side – Foreign Minister Choi Song Hee, head of the separate Central Committee of the Workers’ Party of Korea, Marshal of the DPRK Ground Forces Pak Jong-chon, Minister of Defense Kang Sun-nam, secretaries of the Central Committee of the Workers’ Party of Korea Oh Su-yong and Park Taekwondo Song, Deputy Minister of Foreign Affairs.

The leader of North Korea arrived at Vostochny on an armored train, which had been traveling through Russia for the last 24 hours. On the eve of September 12, he made a stop at the Khasan station in the Primorsky Territory, where Minister of Natural Resources Alexander Kozlov met with him. “Bridge over the Tumannaya River. On behalf of President Vladimir Putin, I met the North Korean leader. Kim Jong-un arrived in Russia on an official visit,” Kozlov wrote on his Telegram channel.

And on September 13, closer to 7 am Moscow time (about 1 pm local time), the armored train arrived at the railway station of the Vostochny cosmodrome. From there, the North Korean leader’s motorcade arrived at the installation and testing building. There he was met by Putin, who had arrived at the cosmodrome a few minutes earlier. After that, Putin and Kim Jong-un inspected the progress of the assembly of the launch vehicle of the Angara space rocket complex and the construction of the launch complex for Angara, the launch complex of Soyuz-2.

Putin, answering a question from journalists about whether military-technical cooperation would be discussed at the negotiations, said that “we will talk about all issues slowly, there is time,” and in response to a remark about the presence of Sergei Shoigu at the negotiations, the president recalled that the Minister of Defense I was recently in North Korea. In addition, he said that the DPRK leader shows great interest in space technology.

The president was asked whether Russia would help North Korea build satellites. “That’s why we came to Vostochny. The leader of the DPRK shows great interest in rocket technology, they are also trying to develop space,” Putin replied.