Kim and Putin then left for summit talks at Kumsusan Palace.
“We highly appreciate your continued and consistent support for Russian policy, including with regard to Ukraine,” Putin said in his opening remarks before the talks began, according to Russian state media.
He also said that Russia is fighting “the imperialist policy imposed over decades against Russia by the United States and its vassals.”
Russian state media reported that Kim said that relations between Russia and North Korea were “entering a new period of great prosperity,” and that North Korea would “unconditionally support all Russian policies.”
Russian official media reported that the talks between the delegations of the two countries lasted for about an hour and a half, followed by individual discussions between Kim and Putin that lasted for an additional two hours.
Earlier, Kim was at Pyongyang International Airport to greet Putin upon his arrival in the early hours of Wednesday morning, where he shook hands and embraced him, according to the state-run Korean Central News Agency. He then accompanied Putin in his limousine to the Kumsusan guest house where the Russian leader will be staying.
The agency said that the two leaders “exchanged their pent-up thoughts” during the trip, and that their meeting demonstrated the “solidity and durability” of relations between Russia and North Korea.
Putin’s last visit to Pyongyang was in 2000 to improve relations with Kim’s father, Kim Jong Il, while the current North Korean leader’s visit to Russia’s far east last year showed signs of a deepening relationship.
Putin on Wednesday described the strategic agreement as a “fundamental document” that will shape the long-term relationship between Russia and North Korea.
Lamy Kim, a professor at the Daniel K. Inouye told Asia Pacific Security Studies in Honolulu that the deal could “lay the foundation for the arms trade and also facilitate their anti-US and anti-Western alliance.”
Officials in the West are concerned about the exchange of weapons and intelligence that could help Putin’s army in Ukraine and threaten the United States and its allies in Asia.
Secretary of State Antony Blinken said Tuesday that Russia is trying “desperately to develop and strengthen relations with countries that can provide it with what it needs to continue the aggressive war it has begun against Ukraine.”
He said North Korea was supplying Russia with “significant munitions” as well as other weapons for use in Ukraine.
US intelligence officials believe Putin is supplying North Korea with nuclear submarine and ballistic missile technology in return, six senior US officials told NBC News. They said the Biden administration is concerned that Russia may help North Korea complete the final steps needed to deploy its first submarine capable of launching a nuclear-armed missile.
Both North Korea and Russia have denied any arms transfer, which is a violation of UN Security Council resolutions that Russia has supported in the past.
Russia ended monitoring of UN sanctions against North Korea with a veto in the Security Council earlier this year, sparking accusations that Moscow is avoiding scrutiny and joining China in protecting Kim from the consequences of his weapons tests.
The South Korean Foreign Ministry said on Tuesday that any cooperation should not violate existing resolutions and “undermine regional peace and stability.”
Pyongyang may also gain access to the oil and natural resources it desperately needs for its devastated economy and missile program.
“Their cooperation will further undermine the effectiveness of sanctions,” said Kim, the Honolulu professor.
It is also a personal victory for the North Korean leader, she said, because “seeing him with a world leader like Putin would also be a big win” for domestic propaganda efforts to elevate him to the cult status enjoyed by his father and grandfather.
“There are economic gains and reputational gains,” she said.
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