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WORLD NEWS Wednesday 24 april 2019

North Korea's Kim will go into Putin summit needing a win

By ERIC TALMADGE Pyongyang in 2000, and
Associated Press met with Kim's father, Kim
TOKYO (AP) — When North Jong Il, in Moscow in 2001
Korean leader Kim Jong Un and in Vladivostok in 2002.
meets with Russian Presi- Former President Dmitry
dent Vladimir Putin for their Medvedev also met Kim
first one-on-one meeting, Jong Il in Vladivostok, in
he will have a long wish 2011.
list and a strong desire to Moscow played an instru-
notch a win after the failure mental role in bringing Kim's
of his second summit with grandfather, Kim Il Sung, to
President Donald Trump. power and helped rebuild
But it's not entirely clear the country after the 1950-
how much Putin can or will 53 Korean War. Those ties
oblige. fell apart after the 1991 So-
Despite a relationship that viet collapse and Russia's
goes back to the very foun- decision to end support for
dation of North Korea, rela- former Soviet allies amid its
tions between Pyongyang own economic meltdown.
and Moscow haven't al- Like Kim, Putin is no ad-
ways been the picture of mirer of Washington's use
comradery, or even par- of sanctions as a political
ticularly close. This combination file photo, shows Russian President Vladimir Putin, left, in St. Petersburg, Russia, tool. Even a cautious state-
A look at what Kim is hoping April 9, 2019, and North Korean leader Kim Jong Un in Hanoi, Vietnam, on Feb. 28, 2019. ment of solidarity with the
to get out of his furtive pivot Associated Press North, or a rebuttal of any
north, and why he might be of Washington's "maximum
looking to shake things up Chongjin. sanctions. It's been nearly a year and pressure" policies, would be
as his talks with the U.S. and But his decision to more ac- According to internal a half since Kim announced a win for Kim.
parallel campaign to win tively court Putin undoubt- documents obtained by a his plan to emerge from rel- But Putin has a lot on his
massive investment from edly goes deeper than South Korean researcher ative isolation at home and plate and good reason to
South Korea have stalled: that. and published this week in expand diplomatic rela- be cautious about making
___ Despite all the talk in Wash- a Japanese newspaper, tions with China and South any big new commitments.
KIM'S WISH LIST ington about denucleariza- Kim wants to boost trade Korea and open denucle- He particularly doesn't want
Kim has two urgent con- tion, Kim's primary concern with Russia tenfold — to $1 arization talks with Wash- to anger China. Immedi-
cerns as he heads to the is improving his country's billion — by 2020. ington. ately after seeing Kim, Putin
summit. economy. After the break- That would obviously re- He has since held four sum- will fly to Beijing for a major
More than 10,000 North Ko- down in his February sum- quire some significant eas- mits with Chinese President international meeting on
rean laborers still employed mit with Trump in Hanoi, his ing of sanctions, which Xi Jinping, three with South China's "Belt and Road" ini-
in Russia, many working in efforts to get out from under would seem unlikely. But Korean President Moon tiative, which could be lu-
the logging industry in the sanctions that are keeping it would also require a Jae-in and two with Trump. crative for Russia.
Russian Far East, are be- him from doing that have change in Russian behav- The summitry has done a ___
ing kicked out by the end reached an impasse. ior. lot toward establishing Kim WHAT'S NEXT?
of this year as a 2017 U.N. North Korea has long de- Unlike China, which has as a serious player on the If Putin chooses to take a
sanctions resolution takes pended on China as its pri- lots of businessmen on the world stage. more hands-on approach
effect. The laborers, who mary trading partner. But ground in North Korea, Rus- But the Hanoi summit to North Korea, Washing-
previously numbered as that reliance, and the in- sia has a very small footprint showed his limitations. It ton's efforts to keep Kim's
many as 50,000, have pro- fluence it threatens to give in the North. Officials have ended with no agreements focus on denuclearization
vided a revenue stream Beijing, makes many offi- long talked about big proj- on either denucleariza- could get a lot more com-
estimated by U.S. officials in cials in Pyongyang nervous. ects — including rail routes tion measures or the lifting plicated.
the hundreds of millions of Kim has also pushed Seoul to Europe, or pipelines of sanctions, which may He has already expressed
dollars that the Kim regime hard to participate in joint across the Korean Peninsu- now be even more diffi- his opposition to Trump's
would like to keep flowing. inter-Korean projects to la — but Putin hasn't shown cult to accomplish since sanctions-centric ap-
Kim is also looking at the rebuild its railroads and much interest in actually both sides are digging in on proach. It's also in Putin's
possibility of a food short- improve its moribund in- carrying them out. hard-line negotiation posi- general interest to weaken
age this summer. Russia has frastructure. His appeal ___ tions. Washington's influence in
shown a willingness to pro- to Korean unity, however, WHY NOW? Kim's decision to meet with the region — though, like
vide humanitarian aid and has run headfirst into the The Kim-Putin meeting, Putin now may reflect his China, Russia does not
just last month announced South's allegiance to Wash- whose exact date has not frustrations over that. want a chaotic collapse in
that it had shipped more ington, which has warned been announced, is com- Putin has more experience the North that would cre-
than 2,000 tons of wheat Seoul against any actions ing surprisingly late in the with North Korea's lead- ate a wave of refugees
to the North Korean port of that would undermine game. ers than most. He visited and economic instability.q