Vowing support, N Korea says Russia will win war

Seoul, September 13

Vowing full and unconditional support for Russia, North Korean leader Kim Jong Un told President Vladimir Putin on Wednesday via a translator that he was sure that the Russian army and people would triumph against “evil”, in what he cast as the West’s imperialism in the war in Ukraine.

Apart from the Ukraine war, both leaders discussed military matters and possible Russian help for the secretive Communist state’s satellite programme. Putin showed Kim around Russia’s most advanced space rocket launch site in Russia’s Far East and discussed the possibility of sending a North Korean cosmonaut into space. Kim, who arrived by train from North Korea, asked detailed questions about rockets as Putin showed him around the Vostochny Cosmodrome.

After the tour, Putin, 70, and Kim, 39, held talks for several hours with their ministers and then discussed world affairs and possible areas of cooperation. “The Russian army and people will certainly win a great victory in the sacred struggle for the punishment of a great evil that claims hegemony and feeds an expansionist illusion,” Kim said.

US and South Korean officials have expressed concern that Kim could provide weapons and ammunition to Russia, which has expended vast stocks in more than 18 months of war in Ukraine. Moscow and Pyongyang have denied such intentions.

Putin gave numerous hints that military cooperation was discussed but disclosed few details. The Kremlin said sensitive discussions between neighbours were a private matter. — Agencies