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North Korea’s Kim Jong Un is continuing his highly scrutinised visit to Russia, following talks with Vladimir Putin over a suspected arms deal.
The pair met on Wednesday at the Vostochny space centre after Mr Kim arrived in his private armoured train.
Mr Putin later said they discussed “possibilities” for military cooperation, and indicated he would help Pyongyang develop satellites.
The US says Moscow is attempting to buy weapons to support its war on Ukraine.
It has warned that any help Moscow gives to Pyongyang’s satellite programme would violate UN Security Council resolutions.
Mr Putin has also accepted an invitation from Mr Kim to visit North Korea. Few heads of state have visited the closed off state.
Wednesday’s meeting between the two sanctioned regimes, which included senior officials from both sides, took place at a time when their relations with the West are at an all-time low.
Mr Kim was warmly received by Mr Putin after travelling for two days to Russia’s far east. Russian state media footage showed the two leaders grinning as they shook hands, before Mr Putin personally escorted Mr Kim around the space centre.
Citing historical ties between the Soviet Union and North Korea, Mr Putin welcomed his counterpart with the Russian proverb “an old friend is better than two new ones”.
Asked if Russia would help North Korea build satellites, Mr Putin said “this is why we’ve come to Vostochny Cosmodrome”, Russian media reported.
Mr Putin also said they would “discuss all topics” when asked if he would talk to Mr Kim about a weapons deal.
Meanwhile, Mr Kim appeared to express support for Mr Putin’s war in Ukraine.
“Russia has risen to a sacred fight to protect its sovereignty and security against the hegemonic forces” of the West, Mr Kim told Mr Putin.
“We will always support the decisions of President Putin and the Russian leadership… and we will be together in the fight against imperialism.”
The North Korean leader is expected to oversee a display of Russian warships later, as well as visit several factories and stop by the eastern city of Vladivostok on his way home. It is not known how long he will stay in Russia.
Earlier this year North Korea twice tried, and failed, to launch a spy satellite. Pyongyang has vowed to develop one to boost military surveillance.
But the US believes North Korea’s satellite programme is also aimed at boosting its ballistic missile capabilities, as the technology is similar.
On Wednesday US State Department spokesman Matthew Miller, in response to reporters’ queries, agreed there was a concern that Russian help with satellite technology would actively improve the North Korean missile programme.
“That is quite troubling and would potentially be in violation of multiple UN Security Council resolutions” which Russia itself had voted for in the past, he said.
Mr Putin appeared to acknowledge this on Wednesday, saying there were “there are certain limitations” to military co-operation.
The US has also warned that it would “not hesitate to take action to hold those accountable if necessary”, to which the Kremlin had responded that the interests of Russia and North Korea were important to them “and not warnings from Washington”.
The meeting marked Mr Kim’s first trip abroad since 2019. The last time he travelled outside North Korea was also to meet Mr Putin after the collapse of North Korea’s nuclear disarmament talks with then US president Donald Trump.
Many had expected him to head to Vladivostok where Mr Putin was attending an economic forum, but instead the train chugged northwards to Vostochny. On Wednesday morning, as Mr Kim neared his destination, North Korea fired two short-range missiles into the sea off its east coast, the latest in a series of banned weapons tests.
Mr Kim and Mr Putin’s meeting follows a Russian delegation’s visit to North Korea in July, where Mr Kim showed off Pyongyang’s missiles, including the Hwasong intercontinental ballistic missile, to defence minister Sergei Shoigu.
Moscow would be keen on North Korean arms due to their compatibility with Russian weapon systems, say experts.
They would be particularly eager for artillery shells and guns as artillery is “the god Russia worships” on the battlefront, said Valeriy Akimenko, an expert on Russia’s military with the Conflict Studies Research Centre.