South Korea’s No Cut News reported that North Korea’s dictator, Kim Kong Un, the First Secretary of the Korean Laborers’ Party, is planning to visit Russia for a summit meeting with the Russian president, Vladimir Putin. On the 19th, the Russian government announced they had officially invited Kim to visit Moscow on the 9th of May, which is Russia’s 70th anniversary of victory in World War II.
Ever since Ryong Hae Choi, the Secretary of the Korean Laborers’ Party and who is also widely believed to be Kim’s right-hand-man visited Russia as his ambassador, the possibility of a North Korean and Russian summit meeting has always been present. If Kim actually does come into contact with Putin in May, then this will be Kim’s debut in his diplomatic career.
In the past year, North Korea has steadily begun to isolate itself even further from the rest of the international community. Kim had executed his uncle Seong Taek Jang with an anti-aircraft weapon, and conducted North Korea’s 3rd nuclear weapons testing. This most recent diplomatic move by North Korea has both very crucial political and economic significance.
According to the Chosun Shinbo, a pro-North Korean newspaper run by Japanese-born Koreans reported that many experts predict that Kim and his regime will continue to reach out to their neighbors starting with Russia and Japan to at least partially overcome their isolation from the rest of the world. Then there is the possibility that Kim would try to even reach out more actively towards South Korea and even the United States. Some even went as far as to estimate that Russia will be actively working to continue the 6 Party Talks to start discussing North Korea’s possession of nuclear weapons and more advanced launch vehicles.
Russia is also expected to strengthen economic ties and cooperation with North Korea. It is believed that the Russian government is hoping to install gas pipe lines that will run into North Korea. The administration had already installed a commemorative pillar in the city of Khabarovsk to celebrate Kim Jung Il’s (Kim Jong Un’s father) visit to the city in 2001. The inscription on the pillar read “The Great Chairman of the Defense Committee of the Democratic People’s Republic of Korea, Kim Jung Il Visited Khabarovsk on August 17th 2001.”
Meanwhile, the whole world is watching North Korea as they are currently held responsible for hacking Sony Pictures Entertainment. The U.S. is preparing solutions to further pressure North Korea to prevent further provocations.
