- Kim Jong-Un is in Vladivostok: tomorrow he meets Putin
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25 April 2019First meeting and historic handshake and strong harmony between the Russian president, Vladimir Putin, and the North Korean leader, Kim Jong-un, who met today in Vladivostok, in eastern Russia, and posed briefly before the photographers, before starting their first summit. Putin, sitting next to Kim, said he was "happy" to meet him in Russia and congratulated himself on re-election as the supreme leader of North Korea."We welcome your efforts for dialogue between the two Koreas and your efforts to normalize relations between North Korea and the United States," said Putin, calling for progress in talks on the denuclearization of the Korean peninsula. "Of course," the Russian president added, citing briefly the other topics on the agenda, "in our bilateral relations we have much to do to improve trade relations and humanitarian contacts. Welcome."
Kim thanked Putin for the hospitality and called for a "significant" summit with Putin on the issues of the Korean peninsula. The Pyongyang leader recalled the "traditionally strong" ties between Russia and North Korea, adding that "the issue of the Korean peninsula is of interest to the international community".
Finally, Kim hoped that today's dialogue could be "an important event" in the process of resolving the Korean peninsula issue. The main purpose of the summit, according to analysts, is for Moscow a further consolidation of its role in the international arena, while Kim can demonstrate to the United States that Pyongyang does not have Washington and Seoul as the only references in the question of denuclearization, only two months from failed summit with US president, Donald Trump. On the summit table, the denuclearization of the Korean peninsula and the opportunities for bilateral economic cooperation. There are no agreements or joint announcements.
Pyongyang "needs guarantees on its security and sovereignty" in exchange for its denuclearization, the Russian president told reporters after talks with the North Korean leader.
The summit is the first of the two leaders and the first of Russia and North Korea since 2011, when the North Korean leader, Kim Jong-il, father of the current dictator, met with Russian president Dmitry Medvedev.
Kim arrived in Vladivostok late Wednesday afternoon aboard his armored train, accompanied by senior officials, including Pyongyang's Foreign Minister, Ri Yong-ho, and his deputy, Choe Son-hui. Accompanying Putin, there are, among others, the Foreign Minister, Sergei Lavrov, and the presidential councilor, Yuri Ushakov.
Russian President Vladimir Putin said he was ready to report to his American colleague, Donald Trump, the results of his talks with North Korean leader Kim Jong-un. "There are no secrets, we will discuss them both with the Americans and with our Chinese friends," said Putin, explaining that it was Kim himself who asked the Russian side to inform the US about the results of their summit and about the issues for him. issues. The Kremlin spokesman, Dmitri Peskov, then explained that Moscow will report to Washington but not necessarily "at a high level". It is not necessary, emphasized Peskov, that the two presidents are spoken, but the contacts can take place "at different levels". Peskov did not want to reply to journalists who asked if in the near future telephone contacts between the Russian leader and the head of the White House were planned.