[News Spot] The 'Vostochny Space Center' Where the North Korea-Russia Summit Took Place

'Vostochny Cosmodrome (Космодром Восточный)' is Russia's new spaceport. After the collapse of the Soviet Union, the Baikonur Cosmodrome became part of Kazakhstan's territory, and Russia has been leasing the facility from Kazakhstan.

In 2012, Russia began construction of a new spaceport with a budget of up to 400 billion rubles (approximately 5.6 trillion won). About 10,000 workers were deployed to build 115 km of roads, 125 km of railways, and residential facilities capable of housing 25,000 people.

Vostochny means 'eastern' in Russian, and it is located at 51 degrees 49 minutes north latitude and 128 degrees 15 minutes east longitude. The site covers an area of 551.5 km², which is more than 100 times larger than the Naro Space Center, which is about 5 km² in size.

The site was formerly a nuclear missile base used by the Russian Strategic Rocket Forces' 27th Rocket Division and is located right next to the Svobodny spaceport in Amur Oblast, which was closed in 2007. The location was chosen to utilize the existing infrastructure of the Svobodny spaceport, including the train station and highway. The name signifies a spaceport located further east than the existing Baikonur Cosmodrome.

On the 13th, North Korean State Affairs Commission Chairman Kim Jong-un and Russian President Vladimir Putin toured the Vostochny Cosmodrome together with their entourages.
[Photo by the Kremlin]

Since 2016, most of Russia's space launch vehicles have been launched from here, and the Luna-25 lunar probe, Russia's moon exploration spacecraft, was launched from Vostochny Cosmodrome last August. The second phase of construction began in 2019 and is currently ongoing.

Svobodny was formerly known as 'Free City' and is historically significant as the site of the 'Free City Incident' in 1921 during the Japanese colonial period, where Korean exile independence fighters who refused to submit to the command of the Russian Red Army were surrounded and suppressed.

According to major foreign media on the 13th, North Korean Supreme Leader Kim Jong-un and Russian President Vladimir Putin held a summit at Vostochny Cosmodrome. President Putin arrived at Vostochny Cosmodrome around 12:30 PM, and Chairman Kim reportedly arrived around 1:00 PM. Prior to this, President Putin attended the Eastern Economic Forum (EEF) held in Vladivostok, Primorsky Krai, Russia, and then moved to Vostochny Cosmodrome.

The meeting at the spaceport is seen as symbolically significant as North Korea seeks to acquire advanced technologies such as satellites from Russia. North Korea had failed twice to launch reconnaissance satellites on May 31 and August 24 of this year.