Putin visits North Korea amid hunt for weapons

What happened

Russian President Vladimir Putin is traveling to Pyongyang on Tuesday for a two-day visit with North Korean leader Kim Jong Un. Putin is making his first trip to North Korea since 2000 as "Moscow is hungry for munitions" to use against Ukraine, The Washington Post said. Putin hosted Kim in far-eastern Russia last September.

Who said what

Putin said in an op-ed in North Korean state media Monday that Moscow and Pyongyang will develop trade and security systems "not controlled by the West" and thanked North Korea for "firmly supporting" his war in Ukraine.

The U.S. and South Korea have repeatedly said that support includes "providing Russia with artillery, missiles and other military equipment," possibly in return for "key military technologies and aid," The Associated Press said. North Korea and Russia deny trading arms.

What next?

"We're not concerned about the trip," White House national security spokesperson John Kirby said, just the "deepening relationship between these two countries." The Ukraine war has drawn Moscow and Pyongyang closer together, but "there is too much mutual distrust between the two countries" for a lasting alliance, Andrei Lankov, an expert on Russia–North Korea relations, told the Post.

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