North Korea's Kim Jong Un plans to travel to Russia this month to meet President Vladimir Putin, a US official has told the BBC's US partner CBS.
Weapons on display at the meeting included the Hwasong intercontinental ballistic missile, believed to be the country's first ICBM to use solid propellants.
There is concern both in Washington and in Seoul about what North Korea would get in return for such a deal, which may result in increased military cooperation between the two countries in Asia.
The newspaper's diplomatic correspondent, Edward Wong, told BBC News channel that an advance team of North Korean officials had travelled to Vladivostok and Moscow late last month.
They "included security officers who deal with the protocol surrounding travel of the leadership, so that was a strong sign for officials looking at this", Wong said.
That meeting came just months after a summit in Vietnam between Mr Kim and then-US President Donald Trump had failed to make progress on denuclearising the Korean peninsula.
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As viewers of Perun Will know, North Korea has one of the largest stockpiles of artillery shells in the world. Russia uses artillery at a prodigious rate, and can't keep up with its usage.
So Russia gets the older stockpile of artillery shells, which we knew they're going to get, the worrisome thing is what is North Korea going to get from the deal?
North Korea has one of the largest stockpiles of artillery shells in the world.
I'm curious how well preserved those shells are. Russia itself was sending shells to the front that were non-functional because of poor storage. I wonder if North Korea did a better job of preservation.
It's going to be a low percentage, but that's better than nothing, maybe it isn't better than nothing I don't know. The artillery crews aren't going to be super happy about old ammunition I'm sure.
I believe that you have it backwards. North Korea, backed by China and with the approval and arming by the USSR, invaded South Korea. South Korea remains independent today because it was defended by the UN. The North's allies promised to rebuild the North after the war and poured billions of roubles into the country. They remained dependent on the eastern bloc countries until the USSR fell and China opened up to the West. The North's economy fell apart in the 1990's after they were no longer propped up by others. The US provided $600 million in aid for food and energy starting in 1995. Sanctions against North Korea did not start until 2006.
Fun fact, Russia a permanent member of the UN security council could a vetoed the UN resolution allowing UN intervention in The Korean civil war. But they were boycotting the UN at the time for some reason
North Korea invaded South Korea as much as revolutionary Americans "invaded" loyalist Americans.
North Korea indeed did have some troubles in the 1990s, which is to be expected when one is cut off from all support, yet they pulled through well and are now self-sufficient. One can't say the same about South Korea with its worsening living conditions and plummeting birth rates, and this is with Western support.