It looks like everything went as expected for the Kim-Putin summit in Vladivostok:
North Korean leader Kim Jong-un on Thursday highlighted his “unwavering” will to cement ties with Russia while President Vladimir Putin made an emphatic call for a peaceful resolution of Pyongyang’s nuclear quandary. The leaders held their first summit in Russia’s Far Eastern city of Vladivostok amid Pyongyang’s stalled nuclear negotiations with Washington. The much-anticipated summit was seen as a key test of Kim’s diplomatic outreach aimed at breaking the logjam in the parley with the United States, easing sanctions pressure and catalyzing his lackluster drive for economic development. “I had candid, meaningful talks with President Putin on the issues of developing the friendly relationship between North Korea and Russia, of guaranteeing peace and security on the Korean Peninsula and in the region, and common international issues,” Kim said during a dinner session after the summit that lasted for around three hours. (……)
During a press conference, Putin stressed the need for an “international” security guarantee for the North as part of efforts toward denuclearization and a lasting peace on the peninsula. He also said that multilateral talks on the North’s denuclearization, including long-stalled six-party dialogue, ought to resume if a need arises.
You can read more at the link, but Putin talking about how there needs to be an international security guarantee for the North to denuclearize I believe is code for withdrawal of USFK.
Kim Yong Chol, NK's top negotiator with the US, and Ri Su Yong, head of the party's International Department, not going to Russia with Kim Jong Un. First time for Kim or Ri to skip out on the leader's foreign trip.
Kim-Putin summitWorkers hang the North Korean and Russian flags on a road leading to the Far Eastern Federal University in Vladivostok, Russia, on April 23, 2019. The school is widely believed to be the venue for an upcoming summit between North Korean leader Kim Jong-un and Russian President Vladimir Putin. (Yonhap)
#NorthKorean laborer in Russia jumped to death, couldn't stand exploitation. Had to pay large sums of money to the #KimJongUn regime, the company prez, etc. If can't pay due to lack of work in winter, it becomes debt. Was only able to save $1k in 4 yrs.https://t.co/5HtrkZpQVe
North Korea earns more revenue from its laborers in Russia than it does from its laborers in any other jurisdiction. Any DPRK workers that remain in Russia after December 22, 2019 would be doing so in violation of UNSCR 2397 (2017). https://t.co/ZrKqYS0qcq
The long talked about summit between Vladimir Putin and Kim Jong-un will happen next week likely in Vladivostok:
Vladivostok
North Korean leader Kim Jong-un will visit Russia later this month for talks with President Vladimir Putin, Russian news service RIA Novosti reported Thursday, citing the Kremlin. Kim will make the visit at Putin’s invitation, the news service and other Russian news outlets quoted the Kremlin as announcing in a press release. The report did not give further details, including dates and the venue of the summit between Kim and Putin. Speculation has been rising that the two leaders would hold their first summit in Russia’s Far East city of Vladivostok next week when Putin travels to the Far East on his way to China for an international conference. Japan’s Kyodo News, citing unidentified officials sources, reported that Kim plans to make a three-day visit to Russia beginning on Wednesday. Kyodo said that Kim plans to travel by train and hold a summit with Putin on Russky Island off the city of Vladivostok.
Via a reader tip comes this news which I am not sure I believe is actually true:
China and Russia have sent home more than half of their North Korean workers, likely tens of thousands of people, according to reports submitted to the UN North Korean Security Council sanctions committee.
Russia’s report said that the number of North Korean workers with valid work permits decreased from 30,023 to 11,490 persons. In its report, China, the strongest ally of North Korea, said more of half of its income-earning North Korean nationals had been repatriated.
A UN diplomat confirmed to CNN that one-page reports from Beijing and Moscow were sent to the committee on sanctions, as required by a December 2017 Council resolution demanding repatriation of all North Korean workers by the end of this year. Reuters first reported this story. CNN could not immediately confirm the figures given and China has previously been accused of trying to find ways around North Korea sanctions.China’s report also noted that it does not wish for the submission to be made public.
You can read more at the link, but it appears that there is no corroboration of the claims made by Russia and China that they actually sent these near-slave labor workers home. If they did that would be another major cut in foreign revenue to the Kim regime.
This could also help explain why Kim Jong-Un is reportedly planning a trip to Russia to meeting with President Putin.
As long as these companies are allowed to operate without facing consequences, the Kim regime will continue to be able to break sanctions:
A Russian tanker violated international trade sanctions by transferring fuel to a North Korean vessel at sea at least four times between October 2017 and May 2018, two crew members who witnessed the transfers said.
Such transactions could have helped provide North Korea with an economic lifeline and eased the isolation of the secretive communist state, whose leader, Kim Jong Un, is due to meet U.S. President Donald Trump in Vietnam this week. Primportbunker, the owner of the vessel the crew members said made the transfers, did not respond to requests for comment by telephone. No one answered the door when Reuters visited the building where Primportbunker has its headquarters in the port city of Vladivostok on Russia’s Pacific coast.
On the four voyages between Oct. 13, 2017, and May 7, 2018, the Tantal tanker gave its destination as the Chinese port of Ningbo when it set sail, according to port documents seen by Reuters and tracking data from financial data company Refinitiv. It then met up in international waters with a North Korean vessel to which it transferred its cargo of fuel, the two crew members who witnessed the transfers said. The two crew said the fuel transfers took place when the Tantal’s transponder, which allows the vessel to be tracked at sea, was not operating. Shipping industry experts said this indicates the transponder was deliberately turned off or the Tantal had entered a zone not covered by ship-tracking radar. On each occasion, the transponder started operating again when the Tantal was close to port in Russia, the two crew said.
This is why the Russians hurried to seize the Kuril Islands after World War II and have refused to give them back, it is all about keeping the Sea of Okhotsk a giant Russian lake:
The Kuril Islands
A Russian government source said the document obtained by Kyodo News was drawn up sometime after this summer. It remains unknown whether the plan was approved by Putin. Russian media recently reported on the envisioned military buildup in the area. By setting up a defense line around the islands in the Sea of Okhotsk, Russia is aiming to keep foreign vessels out of the waters where its nuclear submarines are deployed, while also securing the free navigation of the Russian Pacific Fleet, which is headquartered in Vladivostok. According to the document, new shore-to-ship missiles systems called the Bastion, with a range of more than 300 kilometers (over 180 miles), and the Bal, with a range of over 130 km (over 80 miles), will be deployed on six islands and on the Kamchatka Peninsula. Missile systems were deployed in 2016 on Etorofu and Kunashiri, two of the four islands and islets off Hokkaido that are claimed by Japan.
It looks like Kim Jong-un may be heading off to Russia in the near future:
Valentina Matviyenko, chairwoman of Russia’s Federation Council,shakes hands with Seoul’s National Security Office chief Chung Eui-yong at the presidential office in Seoul on Friday. Yonhap
Pyongyang and Moscow are working to arrange an official visit to Russia for North Korean leader Kim Jong-un, a top Russian politician revealed Friday.
“(I) attended North Korea’s 70th foundation anniversary event on orders from President Putin,” Valentina Matviyenko, chairwoman of Russia’s Federation Council, told Seoul’s National Security Office chief Chung Eui-yong ahead of her meeting with President Moon Jae-in. “There was a meeting with Chairman Kim Jong-un. (Moscow and Pyongyang) are negotiating on the dates and location of the Chairman Kim Jong-un’s visit to Russia.”
Matviyenko’s comments confirm rumors that have been circulating for some time, regarding the possibility that Kim might be planning to travel to Moscow in the near future. [Korea Herald]
You can read more at the link, but this could just be more optics to make Kim Jong-un look more like a legitimate world leader by visiting Russia. The timing of this will be interesting to see if he visits Putin before meeting with President Trump if a second Trump-Kim summit does in fact happen.
