Choe Sonhui Meets Putin in Russia... Will Kim Jong Un Visit Russia?

Possible Meeting at EEF in September

North Korea Dramatically Strengthens Military Presence Along the "Border"

RFA: "Numerous Rocket Launcher Facilities Built 52 km in a Direct Line from Seoul"

As North Korean Foreign Minister Choe Son-hui is currently visiting Russia, her meeting with Russian President Vladimir Putin on July 19 (local time) has drawn attention to whether North Korean leader Kim Jong Un will make a future visit to Russia. Speculation regarding Kim's possible visit to Russia has continued since President Putin requested a reciprocal visit during the summit in Pyongyang in June 2024.

Park Won-gon, a professor at Ewha Womans University’s Department of North Korean Studies, remarked on July 20, "Since President Putin visited Pyongyang in 2024, both Russia and North Korea have left open the possibility of Kim Jong Un's visit to Russia." He added, "Russia needs to demonstrate its close ties with North Korea and further secure support from North Korea, while North Korea can use Kim Jong Un's visit to Russia to showcase political achievements to its citizens."

Cho Han-bum, Senior Research Fellow at the Korea Institute for National Unification, predicted, "Given that Russia lacks the capacity to host diplomatic events due to the unfavorable course of the war, it is more likely that a meeting would be prepared during the Eastern Economic Forum (EEF) in Vladivostok, where President Putin will be present in September, rather than Kim visiting Moscow."

Meanwhile, North Korea has dramatically strengthened its military presence in the area around the Demilitarized Zone (DMZ). This comes just two months after Kim Jong Un defined the area around the military demarcation line as a border and ordered the enhancement of military capabilities of front-line units and the fortification of the border line.

According to satellite images analyzed by U.S.-based Radio Free Asia (RFA) the same day, buildings approximately 52 meters in length each were constructed between 2023 and 2025 at a small-scale North Korean military base south of Kaesong. The number of buildings alone is at least 21, and it is believed that these are intended for storage or maintenance of multiple launch rocket systems. RFA explained, "The site, in the DMZ, is only a few kilometers north of the border and about 52 kilometers in a straight line from Seoul." It appears that North Korea has completed development of three new weapons this year: a new 240mm multiple launch rocket system capable of reaching Seoul, the new tactical ballistic missile 'Hwasongpo-11ra', and a new 155mm self-propelled howitzer.

This content was produced with the assistance of AI translation services.