Vladimir Putin and North Korea’s Kim Jong-un meet at Russian space facility

President Vladimir Putin shook hands with a beaming Kim Jong-un at the Vostochny Cosmodrome Wednesday, kicking off a meeting that could see the internationally isolated leaders forge an arms deal.

Accompanied by an entourage that suggested a strong military focus for the summit, the North Korean leader has travelled overland to Russia in his bulletproof train, the official Korean Central News Agency reported.

Kim thanked Putin for inviting him to visit, despite the Russian leader’s “busy schedule”, having earlier stressed the trip – his first post-pandemic foreign travel – showed North Korea was “prioritising the strategic importance” of its Russia ties.

The pair are meeting at the Vostochny Cosmodrome, a Russian spaceport some 1,000km (620 miles) from Vladivostok, with Putin saying the location was chosen as Moscow plans to help North Korea with its satellite programmes, RIA Novosti reported.

“The leader of the DPRK shows great interest in rocket technology, and they are trying to develop (their presence in) space,” Putin said, referring to North Korea by its official name.

“We’ll talk about all the issues, without haste. There is time,” he said, when asked by reporters whether military cooperation would be on the agenda.

Russian Defence Minister Sergei Shoigu – who visited Pyongyang in July and has recently mooted bilateral joint naval drills – will take part in the negotiations, Putin’s press secretary Dmitry Peskov said, RIA Novosti and Tass reported.

Kim is accompanied by top military officials including Korean People’s Army Marshal Pak Jong-chon and Munitions Industry Department Director Jo Chun-ryong, KCNA has said.

The meeting at the cosmodrome is symbolic and sends a signal that Russia might help North Korea with its rocketry and satellite programmes, experts said.

Pyongyang failed twice recently in its bid to put a military spy satellite into orbit.

“The spaceport seems to be the optimal location because it responds to mutual interests, such as providing satellite technology requested by North Korea,” An Chan-il, a defector-turned-researcher who runs the World Institute for North Korea Studies, said.

Russia is eager for North Korea’s stockpile of artillery shells likely for use in Ukraine, while Pyongyang is looking for help in upgrading its Soviet-era equipment especially for its air force and navy, he said.

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“If North Korea’s multiple rocket launchers and other artillery shells are provided to Russia in large quantities, it could have a significant impact on the war in Ukraine,” he added.

Russia’s natural resources minister Alexander Kozlov greeted Kim when he arrived in the country, giving him historic autographed photographs of Soviet cosmonauts, including Yuri Gagarin, Kozlov’s ministry told Tass.

Russia and North Korea’s communication is back on a pre-Covid track with dialogue “actively developing”, foreign ministry spokeswoman Maria Zakharova told Tass.

“Our contacts are developing literally on a daily basis in a number of areas.”

The White House warned last week that North Korea would “pay a price” if it supplies Russia with weaponry for the conflict in Ukraine.