Support for this podcast and the following message come from Wwise, the app that makes managing your money in different currencies easy. With Wwise, you can send and spend money internationally at the mid -market exchange rate. No guesswork and no hidden fees. Learn more about how Wwise could work for you at Wwise .com. Today on State of the World, Russia's president visits North Korea. You're listening to State of the World from NPR, the day's most vital international stories up close where they're happening. It's Tuesday, June 18th. I'm Greg Dixon. This week, President Vladimir Putin of Russia is making a two state visit to North Korea. He's expected to meet with North Korean leader Kim Jong -un. This comes as there is growing international concern over the two countries' military cooperation. A. Martinez spoke to two NPR correspondents about what to expect from the visit, Anthony Kuhn in Seoul and Charles Mains in Moscow. is not Putin's first trip to North Korea, but it certainly has been a while. 24 years, in fact, since he last stepped foot in Pyongyang. That was to meet with the previous generation of North Korean leadership, Kim Jong Il. Nearly a quarter century later, Putin will meet now with Kim's son, Kim Jong Un. The bulk of the talks happen Wednesday with Putin accompanied by top Kremlin officials from his defense and economic teams. Advisors say there'll be some signing ceremonies focused not only on humanitarian needs and trade, but also security issues. They'll also be exploring ways to find workarounds to Western financial sanctions both countries face. Keep in mind, this trip was announced last minute, but it didn't come from nowhere. It's been anticipated for some time. Putin, in fact, hosted Kim in Russia's far east last September, and that's when Kim extended an invitation to Putin to come to Pyongyang. So this is a return favor, so to speak. Okay. We're going to get to Anthony in just a moment for the North Korean perspective. But Charles, given that nearly quarter of a century gap, I mean, why this interest now? Well, the short answer is Ukraine. Russia's invasion of its neighbor changed the dynamics of the relationship with North Korea. They now have this shared struggle against the U .S. in particular. Kim wholly endorsed Russia's invasion of Ukraine, calling it a sacred struggle against Western imperialism. Putin published an essay in North Korea's main newspaper in which he thanked Kim for, quote, unwavering support over the Ukraine issue. He also pledged much the same in terms of North Korea and its struggles against the U .S., for example, at the U .N. Security Council where Russia holds a veto. But the suspicion by the U .S. and its allies in Europe and Asia is that there's more going on here. They suspect that North Korea is providing Russia munitions for the war in Ukraine in exchange for Russian technologies that could aid North Korea's nuclear and missile weapons programs in violations of UN sanctions, I might add. Now, Moscow and Pyongyang deny the charge, even as they seem to enjoy making their critics all very nervous with the prospect. Take, for example, last September, when Putin gave Kim a tour of Russia's Vostoshny Cosmodrome in front of cameras and offered to help North Korea launch a satellite. Well, you know, the potential nuclear uses weren't hard to imagine. Yeah. Anthony, you're in Seoul and you've been reporting recently on North Korea making a dramatic shift in foreign policy this year. So how does Vladimir Putin's visit fit into that? Well,

North Korea has called its ties with Russia its top foreign policy priority, and this visit is intended to show that. That also implies that their traditional reliance on ally and neighbor China is no longer their top priority. And also this year, they've dropped their goal of eventually reunifying with South Korea and tensions along the border between the two Koreas have soared. North Korean troops actually crossed the border for the second time in two weeks. Now that may have been an accident, but the South Korean troops fired warning shots and the Northern troops retreated. Meanwhile, North Korea continues to say it's not interested in talking with the U .S. They don't think they'll get anything out of it. On the other hand, they have not tested any nuclear weapons or long -range missiles.