Kim Jong Un and Vladimir Putin Hold Lengthy First Summit in Vladivostok

April 25, 2019 (EIRNS)—Russian President Vladimir Putin and North Korean Chairman Kim Jong Un held their summit today at Vladivostok. Their closed-door meeting, scheduled for 50 minutes, lasted two hours, according to TASS.

During the part of the summit when journalists were admitted, Putin expressed hope that the North Korean leader’s visit to Russia will help settle the situation on the Korean Peninsula. Kim Jong Un conveyed a similar sentiment. The Russian President also welcomed North Korea’s efforts to normalize relations with South Korea and the United States.

For his part Kim said: “I hope that our meeting, Mr. President, would be useful for deepening and developing the traditionally friendly and deep-rooted relations between North Korea and Russia. The situation on the Korean Peninsula is of great interest to the entire international community. I hope that our talks will become an important event to assess the situation together and exchange opinions. ...

“I hope we will have a substantial exchange of opinions.”

To which Putin replied: “We will.”

In his comments to journalists, Putin said:

“We just had a thorough face-to-face conversation. We talked about the history of our interstate relations, the current situation and the prospects for the development of our bilateral ties. We discussed the situation on the Korean Peninsula and shared our positions on the measures to be taken for the situation to have good prospects for improvement.”

President Putin hosted an official reception for Kim, and the speeches of the two leaders are translated on the Presidential website.