Kim travelled to Russia with his top military officials including Korean People’s Army Marshal Pak Jong Chon and Munitions Industry Department Director Jo Chun Ryong, analysts said.
This indicates a Putin-Kim summit “is likely to heavily focus on Russia and North Korea’s possible military cooperation”, Yang Moo-jin, president of the University of North Korean Studies in Seoul, told AFP.
Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov said Putin and Kim would “cooperate on sensitive areas that should not be the subject of public disclosure and announcements”.
Experts say Moscow will likely seek artillery shells and antitank missiles from North Korea, which wants advanced satellite and nuclear-powered submarine technology in return.
Siemon Wezeman, a senior researcher at the Stockholm International Peace Research Institute, said it was “entirely possible” North Korea had large stocks of ammunition that could be used by Russia.
“Whether any deal is struck remains to be seen,” he said.
“We will not know for sure until there is hard evidence that Russia has used North Korean arms and ammunition on the battlefield in Ukraine,” he added.
Leif-Eric Easley, a professor at Ewha University in Seoul, said: “North Korea has the crude ammunition that Putin needs for his illegal war in Ukraine, while Moscow has submarine, ballistic, and satellite technologies that could help Pyongyang leapfrog engineering challenges it suffers under economic sanctions.”
Kim has been steadfast in his support for Moscow’s assault on Ukraine, including supplying rockets and missiles, said the US.
But both Moscow and Pyongyang have denied North Korea has or will supply arms to Russia, which has eaten into its vast stockpiles of munitions since it launched its Ukraine offensive early last year.
The White House warned last week that North Korea would “pay a price” if it supplied Russia with weapons for the conflict in Ukraine.