NORTH KOREA FIRES MISSILES DURING KIM'S RUSSIA DIPLOMATIC VISIT

North Korea fired two ballistic missiles toward the sea Wednesday, as leader Kim Jong Un rolled through Russia on an armoured train toward a meeting with President Vladimir Putin.

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That meeting underscores how the two leaders’ interests are aligning in the face of their separate, intensifying confrontations with the United States.

The launch extended a highly provocative run in North Korean weapons testing since the start of 2022, as Kim used the distraction caused by Putin’s war on Ukraine to accelerate his weapons development. South Korea’s Joint Chiefs of Staff didn’t immediately say how far the North Korean missiles flew. Japan’s Coast Guard, citing Tokyo’s Defence Ministry, said the missiles have likely already landed but still urged vessels to watch for falling objects.

For Putin, the meeting with Kim is an opportunity to refill ammunition stores that the 18-month-old war has drained. For Kim, it’s a chance to get around crippling UN sanctions and years of diplomatic isolation. Kim is expected to seek economic aid and military technology though an arms deal would violate international sanctions that Russia supported in the past.