The United States, Japan and South Korea have warned that any arms exports from North Korea to Russia would directly violate multiple UN Security Council resolutions, including resolutions that Russia itself voted to adopt.<\/p>\n
The U.S. and its two strongest allies in Asia made the warning in apparent concerns over North Korea’s possible arming of Russia to strengthen its war against Ukraine.<\/p>\n
The visiting North Korean leader Kim Jong Un and Russian President Vladimir Putin reportedly spent more than five hours together during a tour of the Vostochny Cosmodrome, a space launch center in the Russian Far East. It was followed by Kim’s visit at a warplane manufacturing plant in the region on Friday, according to Russian state media.<\/p>\n
A press release posted on the Russian government’s Telegram channel later quoted Deputy Prime Minister Denis Manturov as saying that there is “the potential for cooperation both in aircraft manufacturing and in other industries (with North Korea).”<\/p>\n
However, it is not clear if the two leaders reached any agreement on supplying arms, as feared by the West.<\/p>\n
“National Security Advisor Sullivan held a trilateral call with National Security Secretariat Secretary General Akiba Takeo of Japan and National Security Office Director Cho Tae-yong of the Republic of Korea to exchange views on the Democratic People’s Republic of Korea (DPRK), including the recent summit meeting between Russian President Putin and DPRK leader Kim”, the White House said in a statement. <\/p>\n
They reiterated their cooperation toward the complete denuclearization of the Korean Peninsula, it added. <\/p>\n