PREVIEW - Putin, North Korea's Kim Converge On Vladivostok For First-Ever Summit On Thursday

PREVIEW - Putin, North Korea's Kim Converge on Vladivostok for First-Ever Summit on Thursday

Russian President Vladimir Putin and North Korean leader Kim Jong Un will hold talks in the Russian Far Eastern city of Vladivostok on Thursday, marking not only the first ever summit between the two leaders, but also Kim's first overseas trip since his reelection as chairman of the State Affairs Commission

VLADIVOSTOK (Pakistan Point News / Sputnik - 24th April, 2019) Russian President Vladimir Putin and North Korean leader Kim Jong Un will hold talks in the Russian Far Eastern city of Vladivostok on Thursday, marking not only the first ever summit between the two leaders, but also Kim's first overseas trip since his reelection as chairman of the State Affairs Commission.

The visit comes almost a year after Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov handed over an invitation to Kim to visit Russia in June last year.

Even though the exact program of talks between the two leaders have not been made public yet, the Kremlin has shared some of the details. According to Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov, the summit will take place at about 1-2 p.m. Vladivostok time (03:00-04:00 GMT).

Kremlin aide Yuri Ushakov said that talks will start tete-a-tete and then continue in the narrow and extended formats.

The Russian side will be represented at the extended talks by Deputy Prime Minister Yury Trutnev, Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov, Transport Minister Yevgeny Dietrich, Minister for the Development of Russian Far East and co-chair of the Russian-North Korean intergovernmental commission Alexander Kozlov, Russian Railways Head Oleg Belozerov and Deputy Minister of Energy Anatoly Yanovsky.

The North Korean leader is accompanied by Foreign Minister Ri Yong Ho, First Deputy Minister Choe Son Hui, Chief of the General Staff of the Korean People's Army Gen. Ri Yong Gil, vice-chairmen of the Central Committee of the Workers' Party of Korea (WPK) Kim Phyong Hae and O Su Yong, and others, according to the state-run Korean Central news Agency.

After the meeting the two leaders may have dinner together, a knowledgeable source told Sputnik.

The talks will largely focus on a political and diplomatic solution to the nuclear problem of the Korean Peninsula, according to Ushakov. At the same time, Japan's NHK broadcaster reported, citing an unnamed high-ranking Russian official, that Putin was expected to suggest to Kim to resume the six-party nuclear talks, which were discontinued in 2009 after North Korea withdrew from the negotiations. Russia has reportedly informed the United States and China about its plans.

Kim himself also told the Rossiya-24 channel that he was planning to discuss the Korean Peninsula settlement and bilateral relations with Putin at the upcoming talks.

"I hope that this visit will be successful and useful," he said in his first-ever interview to foreign media.

According to the Primorsky Territory administration's press release, the North Korean leader said that his current visit to Russia would not be the last, adding that it was "only the first step" in developing relations with Russia.

The leaders do not plan to issue a joint statement or sign documents after the talks, according to the Kremlin.

A knowledgeable source told Sputnik last week that the meeting between Putin and Kim could be held in Far Eastern Federal University's Building S (sports). Security measures have been enhanced in the campus since Monday, and the North Korean and Russian flags can be seen flying along the campus' embankment and road leading to the university since Tuesday.

En route to Vladivostok Kim's train made a short stop at the Khasan train station, located near the Russian-North Korean border, where he was treated with bread and salt. Then the train traveled at a very slow speed through Russia's Primorsky Territory without stops before finally arriving at the Vladivostok train station at about 06:00 p.m. local time (08:00 GMT).

There the North Korean leader, accompanied by high-ranking officials, was greeted by a military orchestra, honor guard, dozens of residents of the city, tourists and journalists. He shook hands with Kozlov, Governor of the Primorsky Territory Oleg Kozhemyako, Russian Deputy Foreign Minister Igor Morgulov and Russian Ambassador to North Korea Alexander Matsegora on the red carpet in front of the orchestra that played the national hymns of Russia and North Korea.

After that Kim got into a limousine and left for the Russky Island where he is staying at a hotel in the campus of the Far Eastern Federal University.

The Primorsky Territory governor told the Rossiya-24 broadcaster that the North Korean leader and his delegation would be treated with Russian cuisine, including caviar, borscht and pelmeni, traditional Russian meat-filled dumplings.

An informed source told Sputnik that after his meeting with Russian President Vladimir Putin on April 25, Kim would spend another day in Vladivostok. On Friday, the North Korean leader will visit a number of locations in the city, including the Primorsky Aquarium on the Russky island.

South Korean media reported earlier that Kim's itinerary may also include the Mariinsky Ballet theater and the navy headquarters, but the theater's press service did not confirm the reports to Sputnik.

The first summit between the Russian and North Korean leaders would hardly bear any outstanding results, but is still more that just a courtesy visit of Kim, Dr. Olga Krasnyak, a lecturer in International Studies at the Underwood International College of the Yonsei University, told Sputnik.

"I don't see any significant outcomes would follow immediately but I would not say the summit is [just] a symbolic event either," Krasnyak said.

According to the expert, summits do not unnecessarily lead to structural changes in bilateral relations, but Kim's visit indicated that "traditional diplomacy works even when interstate relations are strained or limited." She stressed that the two countries had been maintaining bilateral relations for decades, adding that the lower working level diplomatic negotiations have never been stopped between Russia and North Korea.

Dwelling on the relations between the two countries, the expert noted that Russia would merit from Pyongyang's larger involvement in the regional processes though it was hardly achievable in the near future.

"Even though in a short-term perspective little can be done due to sanctions and the ongoing debates around the denuclearization issue, in a long-term perspective the inclusion of North Korea into wider economic relations of Northeast Asia is beneficial for Russia at large and its Far East in particular," he said.

The Yonsei lecturer noted that Russia was not interested in having nuclear North Korea in the neighborhood, adding, however, that Pyongyang did not seem posing any threat to Moscow.