Background In early September 2023, it was reported that Kim Jong Un would be visiting Russia sometime that month. On 10 September, the meeting was confirmed by both sides after Kim Jong Un departed
Pyongyang with his personal armoured train that he had previously used to visit Russia
in 2019. Russian defence minister
Sergei Shoigu attended official celebrations of the 70th anniversary of "
Victory Day" in Pyongyang a month prior. Since
its invasion of Ukraine, Russia has faced severe labor shortages, lack of international support and ammunition shortages. There was speculation that the meeting was to centre around the possibility of Russia receiving large amounts of North Korean ammunition stockpiles from the Soviet era, in exchange for Russian help in developing technology and resource aid.
Visit Kim arrived in the
North Korean leaders' train in
Khasan,
Primorsky Krai, Russia on 12 September, where he met with Minister of National Resources and Environment
Alexander Kozlov and Primorsky Krai governor
Oleg Kozhemyako. He then left, and continued, arriving at the
Vostochny Cosmodrome on 13 September, where he met with Putin. During the meeting, Kim once again gave his support for Russia's "
sacred fight" against the west, expressing his "...support for all the measures taken by the Russian government, and [he] takes this opportunity again to affirm that [he] will always be with Russia." When asked if Russia would help North Korea build satellites, Putin said "that's why [they] came here." Kim, after the summit, visited an advanced fighter jet manufacturing plant under sanctions, in the city of Komsomolsk-on-Amur in Russia on September 15. On 16 September, Kim visited the Mariinsky Theater in Vladivostok, where he watched
Pyotr Ilyich Tchaikovsky's
The Sleeping Beauty. He also visited the
Far Eastern Federal University on 17 September, as well as the Primorsky Oceanarium. Kim's trip concluded that day. ==Reactions==