Bombastic praise: 'Will win big'

 

 

Russia's invasion of Ukraine

   

Kim Jong Un: "Russia in holy fight against the evil ones" 

  

Joachim Kerpner 

 

Published 22:20  

 

News  

 

Putin offered Kim Jong-Un duck salad.  

 

North Korea's leader countered with a bombastic tribute to the host:  

 

- The Russian army will win a great victory in the holy struggle to punish the powers of evil, said Kim Jong Un. 

 

Quick version 

 

* North Korean leader Kim Jong Un and Russian President Vladimir Putin met at the Vostochny space base where they talked for two hours.  

 

* Kim Jong Un gave his wholehearted support to Putin and expressed hope for continued unity in the fight against imperialism.  

 

* The meeting included a gala dinner with, among other things, duck salad and carp soup, and Kim Jong Un raised a toast "to a new victory for the great Russia and to the continuous development and strengthening of Russian-Korean friendship." 

 

After the whole world followed Kim Jong Un during his slow armored train ride north, on Wednesday it was time for a meeting between Kim Jong Un and Russian President Vladimir Putin. 

 

First, they shook hands for an eternity-long 40 seconds, exchanging pompous honorifics. Then the two leaders stepped into the area of the Vostotjny space base and talked for two hours, according to the newspaper Meduza. Kim Jong Un also got to see the new Russian space rocket Angara.  

 

Vladimir Putin and Kim Jong Un shake hands during the meeting. Photo: Vladimir Smirnov / AP  

 

Afterwards, the assembled journalists on site were able to share the leaders' words of wisdom. No news about North Korean weapons for Russia's war in Ukraine was served, as the media in the Western world predicted. Instead, Kim Jong Un said: 

 

- We have always supported and will always support all decisions that President Putin and the government of Russia make. I hope that we will always stand united in the fight against imperialism, he said and continued: 

 

- We are convinced that the Russian army and the Russian people will win a great victory in the holy struggle to punish the forces of evil that seek world domination through expansionist illusions and that you will create stable conditions for development. I am deeply convinced that the heroic Russian army and the heroic Russian people, as shining inheritors of a victorious tradition, will demonstrate the value of honor on two fronts – both in the military special operation and in building a strong society. 

 

Kim Jong Un arrives for the meeting with Putin on Wednesday. Photo: Pavel Byrkin / AP  

 

Vladimir Putin continued on the beaten track: 

  

- Our relations were already founded in connection with Korea's struggle for freedom in 1945, when Soviet and Korean soldiers shoulder to shoulder crushed the Japanese warmongers. To this day, we strengthen the camaraderie and the good neighborly relationship between us. We are acting in the name of peace, and for the stability and prosperity of our common region, Putin said, according to Meduza.

 

 

Duck salad was on the menu during the gala dinner at the Vostochny space base. Photo: Vedomosti  

 

Offered on a long menu  

 

Then he paid tribute to North Korea's founder Kim Il Sung and then it was time for the gala dinner. According to the newspaper Vedomosti, the dinner consisted of: 

 

• Duck salad with fig and nectarine 

• Dumplings with Kamchatka crab 

• Carp soup • Sea buckthorn sorbet  

• Sturgeon with mushrooms and potatoes  

• Marbled entrecote with baked vegetables 

• Thai galingon with pine nuts and condensed milk 

 

  

At the red dot is the Vostochny space base, where the two leaders met. Kim Jong Un went there in his armored train, while Putin flew to the site. Photo: Google Maps  

 

During the gala dinner, Kim Jong Un raised a toast "to the good health of the revered Russian President, Comrade Vladimir Vladimirovich Putin, to a new victory for Great Russia and to the continuous development and strengthening of Russian-Korean friendship."  

 

The meeting at the Vostochny space base in the Amur region was the second between Vladimir Putin and Kim Jong Un. Their first meeting took place in Vladivostok in 2019, according to the BBC.