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On April 24th, North Korean leader Kim Jong Un departed for Russia with his private train.
He was accompanied by Kim Phyong Hae and O Su Yong, members of the Political Bureau and vice-chairmen of the Central Committee of the Workers’ Party of Korea (WPK), Ri Yong Ho, member of the Political Bureau of the C.C., WPK and foreign minister, Army General Ri Yong Gil, alternate member of the Political Bureau of the C.C., WPK and chief of the General Staff of the Korean People’s Army, Choe Son Hui, member of the State Affairs Commission (SAC) of the DPRK and first vice foreign minister, and members of the C.C., WPK and the SAC.
Ким Чен Ын приехал во Владивосток, где встретится с Путиным, без супруги, но, похоже, с подарками pic.twitter.com/d1eSqOrKN0
— Кремлевский пул РИА (@Kremlinpool_RIA) April 24, 2019
“Kim Jong Un arrived in Vladivostok, where he will meet with Putin, without his wife, but with gifts.”
Кремль официально объявил: Путин встретится с Ким Чен Ыном 25 апреля во Владивостоке.
Сначала они поговорят вдвоем, потом в составе делегаций. Подписания документов и совместного заявления пока не планируется. pic.twitter.com/CmZxy643Kw— Кремлевский пул РИА (@Kremlinpool_RIA) April 23, 2019
“The Kremlin officially announced: Putin will meet with Kim Jong-en on April 25 in Vladivostok. At first, they will speak alone, then as a part of delegations. There are no plans to sign documents and a joint statement.”
The Kremlin announced that Russian President Vladimir Putin had invited the North Korean leader on April 18th.
On April 19th, Kim Jong Un answered the invitation, also thanking Putin for extending his congratulations for the North Korean leader’s re-election.
“It fully conforms with the common interests of the peoples of the two countries to invariably strengthen and develop the long-standing friendly relations between the DPRK and Russia established by the preceding leaders
I am ready to closely cooperate with you in order to steadily and constructively develop the traditional friendly relations between the DPRK and Russia as required by the new era and defend peace and security of the Korean peninsula and the rest of the world,” Un’s statement read, published by North Korean state news agency KCNA.
Kim said that his first visit to Russia was “only the first step” and that it would also not be his last.
He and Putin will meet at the far-eastern city of Vladivostok, at the Far Eastern Federal University.
Russian Presidential aide Yuri Ushakov provided some insight into the meeting’s agenda.
“The focus of the talks will, of course, be a political and diplomatic solution to the nuclear problem of the Korean Peninsula,” Ushakov told reporters.
He added that within the framework of the talks, topical issues of relations between Russia and the DPRK will also be discussed.
“The leaders will exchange views on political, trade, economic, cultural, humanitarian and other components of bilateral relations,” the assistant to the Russian leader explained.
Ushakov recalled that the issue of the visit of the new head of the DPRK to Russia was discussed repeatedly, the invitation of the Russian side was transferred back in 2017-2018.
“We agreed on the terms for a long time, and finally, we managed to come to a mutual agreement, now the North Korean leader will arrive in Vladivostok,” he added.
Kim arrived at the city of Khasan and was greeted by a Russian delegation and a red carpet.
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He met with Russian officials prior to his meeting with Vladimir Putin on April 25th.
According to Yuri Ushakov, the meeting will be one on one between Putin and Kim.
“The program of negotiations is, in principle, typical – it envisages a conversation in a narrow composition, and then there will be negotiations with delegations and an official reception,” Ushakov told reporters.
Earlier, on April 19th, the Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov said that Russia is ready to do everything, to the best of its ability, to contribute to the process of denuclearizing the Korean Peninsula.
“There is no doubt that Russia will be ready to do everything to facilitate, to the best of its ability, the process of denuclearization of the Korean Peninsula,” he said.
This is the first time Kim visits Russia, the last time a North Korean leader visited the country was in 2011, when Kim’s late father – Kim Jong Il visited.
Some experts say Kim could try to bolster his country’s ties with Russia and China as North Korea has expressed its discontent at the lack of US steps to match the partial disarmament steps it took last year. This is specifically reinforced by the fall-through of the February 28th meeting between US President Donald Trump and Kim in Hanoi, Vietnam.
The North Korean side blamed the failure largely on US Secretary of State Mike Pompeo. Kim said that he was willing for a 3rd meeting with Trump, refused to sit at the negotiation table if Pompeo is present.
Pompeo disregarded North Korea’s insults and claims and said that he would still remain “in charge” of negotiations with the North.
“President Trump is obviously in charge of the overall effort but it will be my team, special representative {Stephen} Biegun will continue to lead the efforts to achieve what Chairman Kim committed to do back in June of last year which was to denuclearize,” Pompeo told reporters at the State Department.
“As I have said before he has made that commitment to President Trump multiple times, he has made it to me personally a half a dozen times. I’m convinced we still have a real opportunity to achieve that outcome and our diplomatic team will continue to remain in the lead.”
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