Will the leader of North Korea visit Russia?
According to reports, the North Korean leader may meet with Russian President Vladimir Putin this week and possibly discuss selling North Korean weapons to replenish Russia’s stockpiles. But these reports have not been confirmed yet.
Kim Jong-un’s travels
Following reports that North Korean leader Kim Jong-un may visit Russia soon, media attention has turned to the North Korean leader’s mode of travel. In fact, these media published various articles about the traditional way of travel of North Korean leaders: the luxury and armored trains that have long been part of the culture of Korean leaders.
After that, media speculations were devoted to the location of this bilateral meeting; According to that, the two leaders could meet in the eastern city of Vladivostok, the site of their first meeting in April 2019, when Kim boarded his green and yellow train.
But these media continue to speculate about the method and goals of the meeting. For example, the issue of whether “he” can make the 20-hour train journey again is now in the focus of international media.
The important thing is that traveling by train has become a tradition in the North Korean president’s family. Kim Jong-il, the famous father of Kim Jong-un, who hated flying, made about 12 trips abroad during his 17-year rule, almost all of them to China and all of them by train.
But the most important feature of the train is security. According to South Korean media reports, North Korea has a total of 90 special carriages and three trains run in a row during a leader’s trip, a lead train for rail inspections, a second train carrying Chairman Kim Jong-un and his entourage, and a third train Behind them for the rest of the people.
These trains are equipped with high-tech communication equipment and flat-screen televisions to enhance their administrative efficiency.
Kim Jong Un, who is 39 years old, has used his family’s armored train for his previous meetings with Russian President Putin, Chinese President Xi Jinping, and former US President Donald Trump. Of course, the meetings with the President of the United States, Donald Trump, were held in 2018 and 2019.
Unlike his father, he sometimes flies. Kim Jong-un, who studied in Switzerland for several years, is believed to have traveled mostly by plane as a teenager.
When he traveled to the northeastern Chinese city of Dalian in 2018 to meet with Xi Jinping, it was the first time a North Korean leader had openly traveled by air since Kim Il Sung flew to the Soviet Union in 1986. used outside.
In total, Kim traveled to China four times from 2018 to 2019 to meet with Xi – two of them by train and twice by private plane. According to reports, because the private plane of the President of Korea was considered illegal, in June 2018, he went to Singapore using a Chinese plane to meet with the President of the United States, Donald Trump. In his other trip, he also used the train for the second meeting with Trump in Hanoi, Vietnam.
According to media reports, Kim Jong-un has not met with any foreign leader since his country’s borders were closed in early 2020 to protect against the COVID-19 pandemic.
Experts’ reactions to Kim Jong-un’s possible trip to Russia
Although official sources in Pyongyang have not yet confirmed Kim’s visit to Russia, this news has been met with numerous expert and diplomatic reactions. In this regard, western and Eastern experts and diplomats have expressed different views and approaches regarding the goals of this meeting.
Yang Mo-jin, president of the University of North Korean Studies in South Korea, said: Kim’s possible second trip to Russia could be a sign of the resumption of diplomacy between the leaders, and may be followed by a trip to China to meet with Chinese President Xi Jinping.
“Victor Cha and Ellen Kim” are researchers of the American Think Tank for strategic and International Studies CSIS based in Washington D.C. Say, in this context, believes: “The Russia-North Korea axis complicates the security picture both in Ukraine and on the Korean Peninsula.”
These researchers estimated: “It is not yet clear what the agreement between North Korea and Russia will entail. Pyongyang could provide ammunition, multiple rocket launchers, and short-range ballistic missiles, all of which would help Moscow repel Kyiv’s counterattack. In return, Moscow may offer grain, oil, and military technology, as well as currency, as payment. “Russia can also be prevailed upon to provide North Korea with highly sensitive military technologies that threaten its neighbors, particularly South Korea and Japan.”
