Today is likely summit time for Kim Jong-un and Putin to close out their arms deal. It will be interesting to see if the terms of the deal are released:
This photo, carried by North Korea’s official Korean Central News Agency on Sept. 12, 2023, shows the North’s leader Kim Jong-un leaving Pyongyang for a trip to Russia on his special train.
North Korean leader Kim Jong-un arrived in Russia early Tuesday, an official at South Korea’s defense ministry said, as Kim is set to hold a rare summit with Russian President Vladimir Putin, with concerns growing over a possible arms deal between Pyongyang and Moscow.
North Korea’s official Korean Central News Agency (KCNA) confirmed early Tuesday that Kim had left Pyongyang for Russia aboard his train Sunday afternoon, accompanied by leading officials of the North’s ruling party and the armed forces.
The KCNA said Kim “left here by his train on Sunday afternoon to visit the Russian Federation.”
Hours after the KCNA report, Jeon Ha-kyou, a spokesperson at South Korea’s defense ministry, gave an assessment that Kim’s train had crossed into Russia early Tuesday, adding that the ministry is closely monitoring for possible talks between the two countries over arms trade.
According to the article the invasion of Ukraine has cost Hyundai $374 million in lost sales in Russia:
Hyundai Motor’s plant in St. Petersburg, Russia / Courtesy of Hyundai Motor
Hyundai Motor saw its sales plunge to an all-time low in Russia last month, according to the Association of European Business (AEB), Sunday.
The association said Hyundai Motor sold only six vehicles in August, which accounts for 0.01 percent of the Russian market share, down 99.9 percent from 2,982 cars a year earlier.
“I’m not quite sure if the company managed to sell even six,” an automobile industry official said. “It is virtually kicking the dirt there.”
The carmaker sold 1,605 cars in Russia during the first eight months this year, a 96.5 percent-drop from the same period last year. The largely botched business this year allowed the company just 0.4 percent of the Russian market share.
Hyundai’s lackluster performance is as dramatic as its former prominence in the market before the Russian Invasion of Ukraine in February last year. With its factory in St. Petersburg ― the only one in Russia ― pipelining 220,000 vehicles each year, including popular models like Solaris and Creta, its market share in the country used to be top over all.
But the invasion upended business for Hyundai’s Russian office. While rival foreign brands there vacated the country, Hyundai remained and kept producing cars until July 2022. At the end of that year, the company had sold 45,000 cars. Since 2012, the company sold over 200,000 cars annually.
Hyundai’s Russian factory finally gave up and ceased manufacturing operations this year.
What price exactly is North Korea going to pay? Another sternly worded letter?:
National Security Advisor Jake Sullivan is seen speaking during a press briefing at the White House in Washington on Sept. 5, 2023 in this captured image. (Yonhap)
The top U.S. national security adviser urged North Korea not to provide any lethal weapons to Russia on Tuesday, saying it will pay a price if it decides to do so.
National Security Advisor Jake Sullivan said there were no indications that the North has provided large amounts of weapons to Russia but that negotiations toward that end between the two countries are “actively advancing.”
“Providing weapons to Russia for use on the battlefield to attack grain silos and the heating infrastructure of major cities as we head into winter, to try to conquer territory that belongs to another sovereign nation is not going to reflect well on North Korea and they will pay a price for this in the international community,” Sullivan told a press briefing at the White House.
I hope the Russians bring along a tugboat to help the North Korean ships keep up:
Kim Kyou-hyun (C, back), chief of the National Intelligence Service, attends a plenary session of the intelligence committee at the National Assembly in Seoul on Sept. 4, 2023. (Pool photo) (Yonhap)
Russia proposed conducting three-way naval exercises with North Korea and China when Moscow’s defense minister held a meeting with North Korean leader Kim Jong-un in late July, South Korea’s intelligence agency was quoted as saying Monday.
Russian Defense Minister Sergei Shoigu made the proposal when he held a one-on-one meeting with the North’s leader, National Intelligence Service (NIS) Director Kim Kyou-hyun said during a close-door briefing to the parliamentary intelligence committee, according to Rep. Yoo Sang-bum of the ruling People Power Party.
N. Korea resumes int’l passenger flights to Vladivostok This photo, taken Aug. 25, 2023, shows a departure flight board with a flight schedule for North Korea’s state-run carrier Air Koryo at Vladivostok airport in Russia, as North Korea resumed international passenger flights to the Russian city the same day after 3 1/2 years of suspension due to the COVID-19 pandemic. (Yonhap)
North Korean state media reported on Putin's gratitude for "the DPRK's unwavering support" in Ukraine invasion.
Kim Jong Un gave Shoigu a tour of advanced weapons at a military exhibition, indicating possible North Korean sales of heavy weaponry.https://t.co/Xwyav9UecK
Hopefully the Russians got a cheap price for these North Korean artillery rounds which are apparently not very reliable:
While North Korean leader Kim Jong Un has supported Russian President Vladimir Putin’s war effort, weapons produced in his country have apparently been turned against Russian forces.
The Financial Times reported Friday that Ukraine has been launching unpredictable, North Korean-made rockets at Russian troops. Ukrainian soldiers manning multiple-launch rocket systems near Bakhmut showed the weapons to the outlet.
A Ukrainian artillery commander told FT his troops don’t like using the weapons, which were made in the 1980s and ’90s, because they can often misfire or fail to explode. One soldier said, “They are very unreliable and do crazy things sometimes.”
