North Korea’s Kim to meet with Putin in Russia, officials confirm

North Korean leader Kim Jong Un will meet with President Vladimir Putin in Russia, officials confirmed Monday. 

Kim will visit Russia at the invitation of Putin “in the coming days,” according to a brief statement posted by the Kremlin. Pyongyang’s official Korean Central News Agency said the leaders would meet but did not specify when and where, The Associated Press reported.  

Kim left North Korea’s capital for Russia on Sunday night, the Chosun Ilbo newspaper reported, citing unidentified South Korean government sources. The trip from Pyongyang to Russia was expected to take 20 hours or more, according to the Yonhap news agency.

U.S. officials told multiple media outlets last week the North Korean leader might meet with Putin within a month. U.S. officials were not exactly sure about the timing and location of the meeting, but they said the Russian port city of Vladivostok could be likely due to its relative proximity to North Korea. 

Both Putin and Kim are scheduled to attend the Eastern Economic Forum at the Far Eastern Federal University in Vladivostok, which runs through Wednesday, though it is not immediately clear if their meeting will take place there. 

The meeting would mark Kim’s first summit with a foreign leader since North Korea closed its borders in January 2020. 

According to U.S. officials, Russia is seeking to buy ammunition from North Korea to refill reserves drained by its war in Ukraine. In exchange, North Korea would likely want food, energy shipments and transfers of sophisticated weapons technologies. 

The two countries’ relationship has altered over the decades, though they appear to draw closer to one another since Russia’s invasion of Ukraine in February 2022. 

The meeting is likely to fuel ongoing concerns over deepening cooperation between the two countries as U.S. officials have suspected North Korea has provided Russia with a variety of ammunition in the past year. 

The summit between the two leaders also could spark concern over an increasing threat from Kim’s nuclear weapons and missiles designed for targeting the U.S., South Korea, and Japan. 

Last week, White House national security adviser Jake Sullivan warned North Korea against supplying Russia with arms, saying Pyongyang will “pay a price” if it follows through on a potential deal.

The Associated Press contributed.