Why is Vladimir Putin looking to North Korea for arms?
A deal would boost his war effort and bolster Kim Jong Un’s weapons programme
VOSTOCHNY COSMODROME is an apt location for a meeting of despots. The mega-project located in Russia’s far east has a long history of waste and corruption. On September 13th Kim Jong Un, North Korea’s leader, alighted at a nearby station from his armoured train and drove up in a limo, which he had brought along with him from Pyongyang, to meet his Russian counterpart, Vladimir Putin, at the spaceport. After they spoke, Mr Kim promised to support Russia’s “sacred fight against the West”, declaring relations between the two countries his “top priority”.
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This article appeared in the Asia section of the print edition under the headline “Desperate despots”
From the September 16th 2023 edition
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