Kim and Putin will meet in Russia to discuss weapons, according to The New York Times

Photo: ALEXANDER ZEMLIANICHENKO/AFP/Getty Images

North Korean leader Kim Jong Un plans to meet Russian President Vladimir Putin this month to discuss the possibility of providing Moscow with weapons to support its ongoing war in Ukraine, the New York Times reported.

The possible meeting between the Russian and North Korean leaders comes after lThe White House said it has new information that arms negotiations between the two countries are “actively advancing.”

National Security Council spokesman John Kirby, from whom Russia’s Defense Minister recently traveled to North Korea to “try to convince Pyongyang to send artillery ammunition” to Russiaand after the visit, Putin and Kim exchanged letters “pledging to increase their bilateral cooperation.”

According to The New York Times, citing US officials and alliesPutin wants North Korea to sell Russia artillery and anti-tank missiles, while Pyongyang is seeking advanced technology to make satellites and nuclear-powered submarines.

In addition, Kim wants food aid for his country, detailed the New York newspaper.

Kim rarely travels outside of North Korea. To see Putin, his idea would be to travel from Pyongyang, possibly by armored train, to Vladivostok, in the Russian Pacific border, according to the newspaper.

In that way, both Putin and Kim were to meet on the sidelines of the Eastern Economic Forum, to be held from September 12-15 at the Far Eastern Federal University in Vladivostok.

In the same context, the United States has been warning for months that Pyongyang has sent weapons to Russian forces for use in Ukraine, as the conflict has depleted Russian state reserves.

In December of last year, the White House denounced that North Korea had delivered rockets and infantry missiles to the Wagner mercenary group, which played a pivotal role in the Russian offensive in eastern Ukraine.

However, following Wagner’s failed armed rebellion attempt in June, the relationship between Moscow and Pyongyang in terms of arms purchases has undergone a significant change: it is now carried out at the government level rather than through the group. Wagner, as announced by the White House last week.

*With information from EFE.