Putin had planned to visit Kim in North Korea on June 18-19

SEOUL/MOSCOW:

Russian President Vladimir Putin will visit North Korea on Tuesday and Wednesday, the Kremlin said, a rare trip that underscores Moscow’s growing partnership with the isolated nuclear-armed state.

North Korean leader Kim Jong Un extended an invitation to Putin during a visit to Russia’s Far East last September. Putin last visited Pyongyang in July 2000.

“At the invitation of DPRK State Affairs Chairman Kim Jong Un, Vladimir Putin will pay a friendly state visit to the Democratic People’s Republic of Korea on June 18-19,” the Kremlin said.

Putin will then visit Vietnam on June 19-20, the Kremlin said. Both visits were expected, although the dates were not previously announced.

Russia has gone out of its way to publicize its renaissance in its relationship with North Korea since the start of the war in Ukraine, causing alarm in the United States and its allies in Europe and Asia.

Washington says North Korea has supplied weapons to Russia to help it fight in Ukraine, although Pyongyang has repeatedly denied this.

For Putin, who says Russia is locked in an existential battle with the West over Ukraine, Kim’s courtship allows him to needle Washington and its Asian allies.

Also read: Russia and North Korea: an entanglement that upsets the US

United Nations monitors have concluded that at least one ballistic missile fired by Russia at a Ukrainian city in January was manufactured in North Korea. Ukrainian officials say they have counted about 50 such missiles delivered to Russia by North Korea.

“The list of countries willing to host Putin is shorter than ever, but for Kim Jong Un, this visit is a victory,” said Leif-Erik Esli, a professor at Ewha University in Seoul.

“The summit not only elevates North Korea’s status among countries that resist the US-led international order, but also helps bolster Kim’s domestic legitimacy.”

South Korean Vice Foreign Minister Kim Hong-kyun discussed Putin’s planned visit to the North in an emergency phone call with US Deputy Secretary of State Kurt Campbell on Friday, Seoul’s foreign ministry said.

The visit should not lead to more military cooperation between Pyongyang and Moscow in violation of UN resolutions, the South Korean ministry said.

Russia says it will work with North Korea and develop its relations the way it chooses and that it will not be told what to do by any country, least of all the United States.