Russian President Vladimir Putin wants to host North Korean dictator Kim Jong Un in Russia, following President Trump’s summit with the reclusive tyrant.
Putin delivered the message to a senior North Korean diplomat in Moscow, the latest development in a series of exchanges between Russia and the Kim regime. Both Russia and China officially oppose North Korea’s nuclear weapons program, but they have an interest in resolving the crisis in a way diminishes the U.S. military presence in the region.
“I would like to confirm and ask you to convey our invitation to the leader of North Korea, Comrade Kim Jong-un, to make a visit to Russia,” Putin said Thursday, per TASS, a state-run media outlet. “We are ready to continue working to [a diplomatic solution] and take the necessary steps together with you in order to build relations and economic cooperation.”
Putin also complimented Kim over the recent summit with Trump. “It creates conditions for moving forward and reduces the level of tensions around the Korean Peninsula,” he said.
Russia and China have accused the United States of contributing to the crisis, arguing that American forces and military exercises in the region antagonize the North Koreans and pose an indirect threat to their own countries. Trump announced that he would suspend the exercises, calling them “provocative,” after his meeting with Kim.
But it’s far from certain that Putin would play a helpful role in any North Korea process, although he would like the regime to avoid provoking Trump into a military strike on their weapons programs. A senior Russian official recently signaled that they have the opposite intention.
“The North Korean leader surely won’t agree to full denuclearization on the Korean Peninsula but will apparently give some concessions to help Americans save their face,” said Georgy Toloraya, a top Korea expert in the Russian Academy of Sciences, according to a state-run media outlet. “In this game, Kim Jong Un wins and Americans are forced to solve somehow the North Korean nuclear problem or pretend solving it.
He added, “This scenario quite suits Russia but the situation when South Korea, the United States and North Korea agree behind Russia’s and China’s back is unacceptable.”
Trump’s nominee to be ambassador to South Korea emphasized earlier Thursday that any agreement to downsize the U.S. presence in the region would have to advance both South Korean and American national security interests.
