Foreign Media Focus on Kim Jong-un's Visit to Russia: "Increased Nuclear Threat Targeting South Korea, US, and Japan"

The official confirmation of North Korean State Affairs Commission Chairman Kim Jong-un's visit to Russia has drawn attention as foreign media simultaneously report on the news and its implications.

Kim Jong-un, Chairman of the National Defense Commission, departed Pyongyang by special train on the afternoon of September 10 to visit the Russian Federation, according to a report by the Korean Central News Agency on the 12th.
[Image source=Yonhap News]

On the 11th (local time), the US CNN network introduced that this visit to Russia is Kim's 10th foreign trip since taking power in 2011 and his first overseas trip since the COVID-19 pandemic, noting that all previous nine foreign visits took place between 2018 and 2019.

CNN explained, "Although Kim is known to prefer a high-end armored train like his father, Defense Commission Chairman Kim Jong-il, in reality, he flew on airplanes for three of his previous nine trips abroad and used cars twice to travel to the DMZ."

The US daily The Washington Post (WP) highlighted the armored train Kim took to Vladivostok.

WP cited North Korean state media photos, intelligence agency reports, and the book "Orient Express" written by Konstantin Pulikovsky, former plenipotentiary representative of the Russian Far East District who accompanied Kim Jong-il for three weeks during his 2001 summer visit to Russia, introducing the train as being very luxuriously decorated.

It also explained that the train runs at a very slow maximum speed of 60 km/h compared to regular trains, due to the tremendous weight of the additional armor installed on the train.

In a Seoul-based article, the Associated Press (AP) reported sequentially from the news that the train carrying Kim departed from Pyongyang to Vladivostok and the official confirmation of the North Korea-Russia summit, stating that North Korea seeks to obtain energy and food aid as well as advanced weapons-related technology including intercontinental ballistic missiles in exchange for supplying weapons to Russia.

It pointed out, "The possibility of Russia transferring technology raises concerns that the threat posed by nuclear weapons and missiles that Kim Jong-un is accumulating targeting the US, South Korea, and Japan could increase."

AP also reported, "The two countries have grown closer since Russia's invasion of Ukraine in February last year," adding, "This bond reflects Putin's need for assistance in the war and Kim Jong-un's efforts to increase visibility of cooperation with traditional allies such as China and Russia, aiming to escape diplomatic isolation and become part of a united front against the US."

This content was produced with the assistance of AI translation services.