North Korean leader Kim Jong Un arrived at a cosmodrome in Russia’s Far East on Wednesday for a meeting with Russian President Vladimir Putin that underscores how the two leaders’ interests are aligning in the face of their separate, intensifying confrontations with the United States.
Putin welcomed Kim at the entrance to a launch vehicle assembly building.
The two men shook hands and Putin said he was “very glad to see” Kim. Kim’s translator thanked Putin for the warm welcome, “despite being busy.”
The two leaders will inspect the cosmodrome and then sit down for talks, Russian state media reported.
Hours earlier, North Korea fired two ballistic missiles toward the sea, extending a highly provocative run in North Korean weapons testing since the start of 2022, as Kim used the distraction caused by Putin’s war on Ukraine to accelerate his weapons development.
via joemiller
