North Korea’s Kim vows full support to Russia

North Korea’s Kim Jong Un vowed “full and unconditional support” for Russia’s Vladimir Putin on Wednesday as the two leaders isolated by the West held a summit that the US warns could lead to a deal to supply ammunition for Moscow’s war in Ukraine.

The meeting, which lasted over four hours at Russia’s spaceport in the Far East, underscores how their interests are aligning: Putin is believed to be seeking one of the few things impoverished North Korea has in abundance stockpiles of aging ammunition and rockets for Soviet-era weapons. Such a request would mark a reversal of roles from the 1950-53 Korean War, when Moscow gave weapons to support Pyongyang’s invasion of South Korea, and in the decades of Soviet sponsorship of the North that followed.

The decision to meet at the Vostochny Cosmodrome, Russia’s most important launch center on its own soil, suggests Kim is seeking Russian help in developing military reconnaissance satellites, which he has described as crucial to enhance the threat of his nuclear-capable missiles. In recent months, North Korea has repeatedly failed to put its first military spy satellite into orbit.

Putin met Kim’s limousine, brought from Pyongyang in the North Korean leader’s special armoured train, at entrance to launch facility, greeting his guest with a handshake.