Putin meets North Korea's Kim in Beijing

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BEIJING (AP) — Russian President Vladimir Putin and North Korean leader Kim Jong Un met for bilateral talks in Beijing on Wednesday.

The two leaders met formally at the Diaoyutai state guest house after attending a major military parade in the heart of the Chinese capital that marked the 80th anniversary of the end of World War II.

Putin and Kim traveled from a formal reception to the negotiations in the same car, the Kremlin said in a post on social media. After a bilateral meeting between Russian and North Korean delegations, the two leaders held a one-on-one meeting, the Kremlin said. Putin also invited Kim to visit Russia again, following on from the North Korean leader's last visit to the country in 2023.

Speaking in front of journalists as the talks began, Putin praised the bravery and heroism of North Korean soldiers who fought alongside Moscow’s troops to repel a Ukrainian incursion into Russia’s Kursk border region.

According to South Korean assessments, North Korea has sent around 15,000 troops to Russia since last year. It has also sent large quantities of military equipment, including ballistic missiles and artillery, to help fuel Putin’s three-year invasion of Ukraine.

In his opening remarks, Kim said that cooperation between Pyongyang and Moscow has “significantly strengthened” since the two countries signed a strategic partnership pact in June last year during a summit in the North Korean capital.

Although he did not specifically mention the war, Kim stressed that “if there’s anything I can do for you and the people of Russia, if there is more that needs to be done, I will consider it as a fraternal duty, an obligation that we surely need to bear, and will be prepared to do everything possible to help.”

The anniversary celebrations in Beijing mark the first time that Kim has attended a major multilateral event during his 14-year rule, and the first time Kim, Putin and Chinese leader Xi Jinping have gathered at the same venue.

Observers are waiting to see if Kim possibly meets Xi bilaterally as well, or even holds a private trilateral meeting with Xi and Putin, although none of the three countries has confirmed such an event.

Referencing Xi in a post on social media, U.S. President Donald Trump wrote, “Please give my warmest regards to Vladimir Putin, and Kim Jong Un, as you conspire against The United States of America.”

Putin’s foreign affairs adviser Yuri Ushakov later commented on the post, saying that Trump's words were not without irony. “I want to say that no one has been plotting anything; no one was weaving any conspiracies,” he said. “None of the three leaders had even thought about such a thing.”