Significant that Kim has chosen Putin to be the first foreign leader to meet since the pandemic’: AJ correspondent

The North Korean leader’s last visit to Russia was in 2019 and he has not met any foreign official since March 2020.

Looi also explained what North Korea and Russia’s closer ties will look like after the meeting between the two leaders.

“North Korea is one of the few countries to publicly support Russia in its invasion and war in Ukraine. Now Kim has stated that he considers this war as a righteous endeavour, and he also said that North Korea is ready to stand with Russia, against imperialism. That appears to be a reference to US dominance of global affairs. So we can take this reference as these two countries challenging the global world order,” Looi said.

“Now whether or not these meetings will lead to an arms deal that the US has been warning about, that is the million dollar question,” she explained.

Kremlin spokesperson Dimitry Peskov told reporters that cooperation on sensitive matters, should not be made public.

“We can take that as an indication that if an arms deal between North Korea and Russia were to be agreed, there may not be any confirmation from either side,” Looi added.