On board his armored train, North Korean leader Kim Jong-Un arrived on Russian soil, where he is scheduled to meet Russian President Vladimir Putin .

Edited by| Paul Mitchel

Politic section -  CJ journalist

Vladivostok  - September,12,2023

Russian news agency RIA Novosti said the train had crossed into the Primorsky region in Russia's far east from North Korea, with video footage showing a train with dark green carriages being pulled by a Russian Railways locomotive.

The Russian agency, citing one of its correspondents in the Russian Far East, where Kim is expected to arrive, published a video of a train with dark green and gray carriages moving forward, saying that it was the train carrying the North Korean leader.

The South Korean Defense Ministry, for its part, expressed its belief that the North Korean leader entered Russia early this morning, using his own train, following the confirmation by North Korean state media and the Kremlin of Kim's first trip outside the country in four years, where he is scheduled to meet with President Vladimir Putin.

The Korean Central News Agency reported that Kim "left by train on Sunday afternoon to visit the Russian Federation". Specialists believe that the upcoming meeting in the Russian Far Eastern city of Vladivostok may focus on an arms deal, while Putin is believed to be seeking weapons from North Korea for the war he is waging in Ukraine.

Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov said Kim's trip to Russia and his meeting with Putin were part of a comprehensive visit by the North Korean leader to Russia. "Talks will be held between the two delegations . Then, if necessary, the two leaders will continue to communicate bilaterally on their own,"he said.

Noting that the main topic of the talks will be bilateral relations, he said, "we will continue to strengthen our friendship ties".

For its part, the US State Department commented yesterday on the upcoming visit of the North Korean leader to Russia that the meeting between Putin and Kim shows the Russian President's "begging" for help, warning that any arms agreement between the two countries will lead to the imposition of sanctions.

"Having to travel through his country to meet an international pariah to ask for help in a war that he expected to win in its first month, I can describe it as a plea for help,"State Department spokesman Matthew Miller told reporters.

"I will remind both countries that any delivery of weapons from North Korea to Russia will be a violation of UN Security Council resolutions,"Miller warned. "We have tightened our sanctions on entities that finance the Russian war effort, and we will continue to apply those sanctions, and we will not hesitate to impose new sanctions if necessary,"he said.

Meanwhile, South Korean President Yun Suk-yul said today that he called on China to play a "responsible" role in curbing North Korea's nuclear and missile threats when he met with Chinese Premier Li Keqiang last week.

Yun told the Chinese premier that North Korea should not be a" stumbling block "in bilateral relations with Beijing because it poses an" existential threat " to South Korea.

"Referring to the inevitability that relations between South Korea, the United States and Japan will become more solid as the North Korean nuclear problem becomes more serious, I have asked China to play a responsible role in the development of our bilateral relations, and as a permanent member of the UN Security Council,"Yun said at a televised cabinet meeting.

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