While the US is dismissive of the possible Kim-Putin meeting, both leaders have the capacity to make trouble for Washington. But moral arguments won’t move Kim, who keeps his population locked in a vast prison camp wracked by repression and famines. Sullivan warned that selling arms that Russia could use to attack grain silos or the heating infrastructure of major Ukrainian cities would not reflect well on North Korea. Our visibility into both the question of quantity of stocks and then, of course, quality of stocks is somewhat constrained,” Sullivan said, adding: “I think there is an open question about how much materiel and what the quality of the materiel is that could be provided if it were to be provided.” “We have asked our intelligence community that … question. That tells you how much of a failure this war is.”Īt the White House, national security adviser Jake Sullivan said that the US is trying to work out whether North Korea could make a significant difference to Russia’s war effort. If the overarching goal of Russia’s invasion of Ukraine was to recreate Moscow’s empire, Emanuel told CNN “that empire is now dependent on North Korea, it is dependent on Iran – two isolated countries, two countries that are seen as pariahs. When it comes to cruel sarcasm, there’s no better practitioner than Rahm Emanuel, the US ambassador to Japan and an acerbic political operative. And he’ll get Washington’s attention after a years-long diplomatic freeze following the flurry of praise and summitry of former US President Donald Trump’s administration.Īs it often has during the Ukraine war, Washington is trumpeting information from its intelligence agencies to foreshadow and discredit Putin’s moves before they happen. Plus, for the North Korean leader, the propaganda value of his impoverished country helping to shore up the much bigger Russia could be valuable. North Korea's Kim Jong Un may meet Putin in Russia to discuss arms deal, US says If they can help each other ease the pain of blockades, they may be able to do business. It’s also a big oil supplier, and North Korea and Russia are both living under punishing Western sanctions and restrictions on their access to the global market. Kim, meanwhile, knows that Russia is a longtime and sophisticated nuclear power whose expertise could help his own expanding program. Pyongyang is also adept at drone and missile technology. Russia may be looking to Kim to replenish its ammunition and artillery supplies as the war in Ukraine grinds into another bloody winter. Washington has reacted to the possibility of the meeting – which could possibly take place after Kim climbs aboard his armored train headed for the Russian far east – by mocking Putin, warning North Korea and trying to work out what it might mean. Vladimir Putin and Kim Jong Un may each have something the other wants – a dangerous combination as far as the US is concerned.Ī meeting that may be in the works between the Russian and North Korean autocrats could have an impact on the war in Ukraine, complicate Washington’s repeatedly failed efforts to rein in Pyongyang’s nuclear program, and play into the wider geopolitical chess game unfolding in the Pacific in which China is the major player.
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