Kim Jong Un Completes Ten-Day Schedule Including North Korea-Russia Summit
Rodong Sinmun Praises Visit to Russia... Intensifies Idolization
Suspected North Korea-Russia Arms Deal... Criticism for Violating Security Council Resolution
North Korea has begun praising Chairman Kim Jong-un's 'visit to Russia achievements.' As North Korea and Russia escalate their military cooperation, including 'arms deals,' drawing criticism from the international community for 'violating United Nations Security Council (UNSC) sanctions resolutions,' North Korean authorities intensified their idolization, claiming it "demonstrated influence leading the world's political trends."
The Workers' Party of Korea's official newspaper, Rodong Sinmun, in its front-page editorial on the 21st, defined Kim Jong-un's visit to Russia as a 'historic foreign revolutionary activity,' then praised, "(Kim Jong-un) strengthened and developed the DPRK-Russia friendship, cooperation, and neighborly relations to a new higher level and vigorously encouraged and propelled the just struggle to accomplish the anti-imperialist independent cause."
North Korean leader Kim Jong-un shaking hands with Russian Defense Minister Shoigu [Image source=Yonhap News]
Earlier, Chairman Kim departed Pyongyang on the 10th and returned on the 19th after completing a 9-night, 10-day visit to Russia, including a summit with Russian President Vladimir Putin. This meeting, held for the first time in 4 years and 5 months since their encounter in Vladivostok in April 2019, is presumed to have involved discussions on Russia's military technology and the exchange of North Korea's conventional weapons.
The newspaper stated, "The entire planet was stirred intensely by the significant and meaningful steps of the global political leader, and on this land, the fervor of leader worship erupted even more passionately," continuing with the somewhat exaggerated claim, "Through this visit, the international status and influence of Juche Korea, firmly leading the world political trends, were once again demonstrated to the whole world."
The newspaper also described Chairman Kim's visit to Russia as a 'great success' and demanded "absolute loyalty to Kim Jong-un." It emphasized, "Following the leadership of the General Secretary Comrade is an honor and a fortune," and "Everyone must be armed with the revolutionary ideology of the General Secretary Comrade and live and struggle only according to his will and intention."
North Korean leader Kim Jong-un shaking hands with Russian President Putin [Image source=Yonhap News]
Additionally, in a second-page article, the newspaper listed Russian regions visited by Chairman Kim, such as Hassan, Vostochny, Komsomolsk-on-Amur, and Vladivostok, claiming that 'sacred footprints' were engraved in these areas. After the summit, Kim inspected the 'Yuri Gagarin' factory producing fighter jets, Russia's hypersonic missile 'Kinzhal,' and strategic bombers capable of carrying nuclear weapons.
Given North Korea's focus on developing hypersonic missiles, the inspection of Russia's deployed representative strategic weapons is seen as revealing the potential for strategic weapons cooperation between North Korea and Russia. North Korea claimed last January that after launching a hypersonic missile, it "hit a designated target within a 1000 km range." However, South Korean military assesses that this missile is not hypersonic.
Meanwhile, the next step in the 'dangerous cooperation' between North Korea and Russia could be President Putin's visit to North Korea. Early next month, Foreign Minister Choe Son-hui and Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov are scheduled to meet, after which specific plans for Putin's visit are expected to be discussed. The last time President Putin visited North Korea was in 2000 during Kim Jong-il's leadership, so if the visit occurs within this year, it will be the first in 23 years.
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