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Russian president Vladimir Putin has agreed to travel to North Korea on the invitation of leader Kim Jong-un for more talks on their “far-reaching plan” for a deeper partnership, state media reported. Increasingly isolated from the rest of the world, the two leaders held a summit on Wednesday in Russia’s far east where they agreed to help prop up each other’s regime. Mr Putin offered to support North Korea’s UN-sanctioned satellite launch programme, while Mr Kim suggested Russia had Pyongyang’s full backing in its “sacred” invasion of neighbour Ukraine. Mr Kim is continuing his visit to Russia, where he is scheduled to tour various defence equipment manufacturing facilities and view a display of Russian warships. His trip will end with a stop at a marine biology facility – or so it was described by Mr Putin – in the eastern city of Vladivostok, before he returns with his armoured train to North Korea. No timeline for their next meeting has been set, with Mr Putin accepting the invititation to travel to North Korea at “a convenient time”, according to state media. The two leaders exchanged gifts at the beginning of their meeting on Wednesday, according to North Korea’s KCNA news agency, and the North Korean leader – said to be a car enthusiast – had a go in Mr Putin’s Russian-made limousine. "At the end of the reception, Kim Jong-un courteously invited Putin to visit the DPRK at a convenient time," KCNA said, referring to the Democratic People’s Republic of Korea, North Korea’s official name. "Putin accepted the invitation with pleasure and reaffirmed his will to invariably carry forward the history and tradition of the Russia-DPRK friendship," it said. Mr Kim said their bilateral ties have reached a new level with their meeting, and expressed his willingness to foster stable, future-oriented relations for the next 100 years. The two leaders, both facing crippling sanctions from the international community, met for talks running over four hours as Mr Putin is believed to be seeking a deal for weapons and munitions, an area where North Korea has excelled, to feed his war machine in Ukraine. The possibility of Russia’s arms deal with North Korea has sparked concerns, with the US State Department saying that they “will not hesitate” to impose additional sanctions on Moscow and Pyongyang. It was "troubling" that Russia is discussing cooperation with North Korea on programs that would violate UN Security Council sanctions, State Department spokesperson Matthew Miller said after the summit. During a dinner hosted by Mr Putin for his North Korean counterpart, the two leaders praised each other and celebrated the 75 years of diplomatic relations between their countries. Mr Putin reminded Mr Kim of the cooperation between Soviet and Korean soldiers during the Korean War. Mr Kim said that the two leaders have come to “a satisfactory consensus” for further strengthening their strategic and tactical cooperation in their battle to secure guarantees for a lasting peace in the region and the world, according to the Kremlin. “We are confident that the Russian army and people will inevitably attain victory in the sacred struggle to punish the evil crowd, which claims the right to hegemony based on the illusion of expansionism, a struggle to create the stability needed for development,” Mr Kim added. Neighbouring South Korea expressed deep concerns over North Korea’s military cooperation and possible arms transactions between Pyongyang and Moscow South Korea‘s unification minister, Kim Young-ho, said the two countries were apparently continuing to pursue “some kind of” a military deal. “We once again urge Russia and North Korea to halt illicit acts that cause their isolation and regression, and follow international rules including the Security Council resolutions,” the minister told reporters. Russia is preparing for a longer war in Ukraine and it is unable to meet the necessary industrial capacity, said James Nixey, director of the Russia and Eurasia program at Chatham House, a London-based think-tank. In return, Pyongyang is likely seeking to get food and missile technology from Moscow, “a relatively easy gift” for the Kremlin, Mr Nixey said. James O’Brien, head of the Office of Sanctions Coordination at the US State Department, said Russia was “scraping the bottom of the barrel looking for help because it’s having trouble sustaining its military”. A deal between the countries would violate existing sanctions, Mr O’Brien said, and would trigger the US to try to identify the individuals and the financial mechanisms used to “at least limit their ability to be effective”. Additional reporting by agencies Read More Isolated Putin and Kim posture over ‘sacred fight’ with West as they talk arms for Moscow’s war machine Weapons, spy satellites and nuclear ambitions: what we learned from Putin’s summit with Kim Jong-un in Russia Putin’s meeting with Kim is sign of Kremlin’s isolation, claims No 10 The Body in the Woods | An Independent TV Original Documentary The harrowing discovery at centre of The Independent’s new documentary

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With a lingering handshake and the type of bombastic language you would expect from two men trying to ignore their isolation on the world stage, Vladimir Putin and Kim Jong-un have met for talks to prop up each other’s regimes. The North Korean leader was the most vociferous in his remarks, offering the Russian president his full support for Moscow’s “sacred fight” against “imperialism” – an obvious nod to the West and Mr Putin’s invasion of Ukraine. Mr Kim added that North Korea’s relations with Russia were “the first priority”. Mr Putin said in his opening remarks that he was “very glad” to see Mr Kim. Both men need each other. For Mr Putin, the aim will be a deal for weapons and munitions to feed his war machine in Ukraine. With a counteroffensive launched by Kyiv in June, Moscow will have been chewing through artillery shells, missiles and other munitions and domestic production is struggling to keep up as Western sanctions bite. When asked if he and Mr Kim would talk about weapons supplies, Mr Putin replied that the two leaders would discuss “all issues”. For Mr Kim, his nation facing its own sanctions from the UN, there will be a push for food and other aid. The location of the meeting – the Vostochny Cosmodrome in the remote Russian region of Amur – is symbolic, with Pyongyang’s leader also after Russian technology to help its satellite and nuclear programmes. Mr Kim’s country has tried – and failed – twice to launch a military spy satellite. When asked if Russia would help the North build satellites, Mr Putin said: “That’s why we came here. The leader of [North Korea] shows great interest in rocket engineering, they are also trying to develop space.” After their talks Mr Kim was due to travel to Komsomolsk-on-Amur, where he will visit factories where civilian and military equipment is manufactured, Mr Putin told reporters. The visiting North Korean leader will also travel to Vladivostok to see the capabilities of Russia’s Pacific Fleet, he said, adding that he will be received by the Far Eastern Federal University, a facility of the Academy of Sciences of Russia, whose research laboratories are engaged in marine biology. Having travelled to Russia by armoured train, Mr Kim is due to conduct his two-city trip by plane – a departure from the travel habits of his father and predecessor Kim Jong-il, who preferred long train journeys due to his fear of flying. Mr Putin said that he had an “open exchange of opinions with Kim” and there were opportunities for tactical and strategic cooperation. According to Russian state news agency Tass, when asked about longstanding sanctions against North Korea, Kremlin spokesperson Dmitry Peskov said: “Russia maintains its position at the UN Security Council, but this cannot and will not hinder the further development of Russian-North Korean relations.” He said the talks between the two leaders were “important and substantive” and that Russia sees opportunities to cooperate with North Korea on its space programmes, an area where the country is struggling. Mr Peskov said that Mr Putin did not raise the risk of nuclear war on the Korean peninsula. The Russian foreign minister, Sergei Lavrov, defended the idea of forging closer ties with Mr Kim in spite of UN sanctions that prohibit North Korea’s nuclear weapons and ballistic missile programmes. “Sanctions against North Korea were adopted in a completely different geopolitical situation when there were problems establishing dialogue (with Pyongyang), when there were quite serious debates in the Security Council,” Mr Lavrov told Russian TV reporter Pavel Zarubin. He blamed the West for breaking pledges of humanitarian support for Pyongyang. “We, the Chinese and the North Koreans were deceived,” Mr Lavrov said. Mr Kim and Mr Putin ended their face-to-face meeting after more than four hours, Russian media reported. An official lunch – comprising of duck salad, crab dumplings, fish soup, sturgeon with mushrooms, and last of all, a berry dessert – followed. During the lunch, Mr Putin raised his glass and said: “A toast to the future strengthening of cooperation and friendship between our countries... For the wellbeing and prosperity of our nations, for the health of the chairman and all of those present.” Mr Kim responded in kind saying: “I propose a toast to Mr Putin’s health.” Mr Putin also praised their countries’ longstanding partnership with a proverb. “In Korea, there is a proverb: good clothes are those that are new, but old friends are best friends. And our people say: an old friend is better than two new ones,” he told Mr Kim. “This folk wisdom is fully applicable to modern relations between our countries.” Before the meeting with the two leaders, both nations fired off drones and missiles. For Russia, it was part of its regular aerial assaults on Ukraine, with Kyiv’s air force saying it intercepted 32 of 44 Shahed-type drones launched over Ukraine overnight, with most aimed at the southern parts of the Odesa district. Pyongyang fired two ballistic missiles 10 minutes apart from the area of its international airport towards the country’s eastern seas, South Korea’s joint chief of staff said. Both missiles fell outside Japan’s exclusive economic zone (EEZ), Japan’s chief cabinet secretary Hirokazu Matsuno said. Japan’s Coast Guard said the missiles had already landed but still urged vessels to watch for falling objects. It is not known how the North Korean leader commands and controls his country’s missile and nuclear forces while abroad. However, analysts have said recent drills have revealed a system for overseeing nuclear weapons similar to those used in the United States and Russia. Mr Kim’s delegation is said to include his foreign minister, his top two military officials, and a number of people with connections to the country’s weapons industry, as well as representatives of the country’s space and technology sectors. Read More Ukraine-Russia war – live: Putin and Kim Jong-un begin weapons talks in Vladivostok North Korea’s Kim Jong-un arrives in Russia ahead of arms deal meeting with Putin Whether Russia or the Soviet Union, a timeline of Moscow’s relations with North Korea The Body in the Woods | An Independent TV Original Documentary The harrowing discovery at centre of The Independent’s new documentary

North Korean leader Kim Jong-un has left Pyongyang on a special train most likely bound for talks with Vladimir Putin in Russia, according to South Korean media. The North Korean leader appears to be headed to his country’s northeastern border with Russia, a government source told South Korean broadcaster YTN, amid speculation that the summit will be held as early as Tuesday Russian news agency Interfax reported Mr Kim was likely to visit Russia’s Far East “in the coming days” but did not specify when he will meet Mr Putin. Officials in Moscow and Pyongyang have not confirmed the North Korean leader’s meeting in Russia. But Western intelligence agencies expect the two to hold weapon talks at a time when Moscow is looking to expand its acquisitions of military equipment to use in its war against Ukraine. This would be the first foreign visit by Mr Kim in more than four years since before the Covid-19 pandemic, which saw the borders of the hermit kingdom sealed. Earlier reports had suggested Mr Kim would leave Pyongyang in the armoured train he has previously used to attend talks with other world leaders, and that he would meet Mr Putin in Vladivostok – which is just 80 miles from the Russia-North Korea border. Read More The Body in the Woods | An Independent TV Original Documentary The harrowing discovery at centre of The Independent’s new documentary

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