The summit between the Russian and North Korean leaders signalled a potentially dangerous new era in relations for two nations isolated by the US and its allies.
They gazed into the workings of a rocket launchpad. They tucked into crab dumplings, sturgeon and entrecôte. And they lifted their glasses at a flower-lined table in the conference room of a remote Russian spaceport, toasting the Kremlin’s “sacred struggle” against a “band of evil”, otherwise known as the West.
By the time the two leaders had finished, with Kim scheduled to continue a rare foreign journey that would take him to aviation factories in Komsomolsk-on-Amur and naval facilities in Vladivostok, it wasn’t clear if any deals had been agreed.in comments to state news media.
Russia for years had presented itself as a cooperative partner willing to join the rest of the UN Security Council in an international effort to thwart Kim’s nuclear ambitions. But that posture was gone on Wednesday, with almost no public discussion of nuclear disarmament.
Vladimir Putin, centre back, speaks at a welcome ceremony for North Korean leader Kim Jong-un, seated at fourth left.“The war is now the organising principle of Russian foreign policy,” says Alexander Gabuev, director of the Carnegie Russia Eurasia Centre, who says North Korea, a highly militarised society with one of the world’s largest armies and significant armament production facilities, has something to offer Moscow on that front.
Kim arrived and toured the facility alongside the Russian president, at one point inspecting a launchpad and also sitting down to sign a guest book.
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