Rare Photos Show Putin Images on North Korea’s Streets

Pictures and videos show the streets of Pyonyang adorned with images of Vladimir Putin, as the Russian president touched down in North Korea on Tuesday for a two-day strategic dialogue with Kim Jong Un.

The leaders are set to discuss a deepening of the relationship between the two states, cooperation in resisting international sanctions, and a potential strategic partnership to counter what they perceive as Western aggression. The hero’s welcome being given to Putin hints at the comity that has developed between the two pariah states amid their increasing isolation from the West.

The images were sourced from the Telegram channel of RIA_Kremlinpool, a page run by state-run news agency RIA Novosti, and show streets lined with flags and smiling images of the Russian leader.

While the pair held a summit in Russia in September, this trip marks Putin’s first visit to the DPRK since 2000, and coincides with a period of especially high tensions between both countries and the West.

Russia has been subject to increasingly burdensome economic sanctions since its invasion of Ukraine in 2022, intended to limit its access to the financing, technology, and munitions necessary to continue the military campaign.

Newsweek has contacted the Russian Foreign Ministry for comment.

Meanwhile, North Korea has been engaged in a series of disputes with its southern neighbor, culminating in warning shots being fired by South Korean troops at their DPRK counterparts, who had reportedly crossed the border’s military demarcation line.

On Monday, NKNews reported that the country had begun erecting anti-tank barriers along the Korean border, an act officials in the South Korean military viewed as a preparatory measure for a military confrontation.

North Korea has also emerged as one of Putin’s few partners in the ongoing invasion of Ukraine, and has been accused of providing materiel to bolster Russia’s military arsenal.

According to the Ukrainian Officials, North Korean-developed ballistics have been used on the battlefield in Ukraine since December 2023, while South Korea’s defense ministry has allegedly detected at least 10,000 shipping containers being transferred from North Korea to Russia.

Given the increasing challenges faced by Russian military forces in Ukraine, it is likely Putin will seek further military assistance from the North Korean leader during the two-day stopover.

Newsweek has contacted the Ukrainian Foreign Ministry for comment on Putin’s visit to Pyongyang.

In a letter published on Tuesday by Rodog Sinmun, the official newspaper of North Korea’s ruling Workers’ Party, Putin thanked the DPRK for “firmly supporting the special military operations of Russia being conducted in Ukraine, expressing solidarity with us on major international issues and maintaining the common line and stand at the U.N.”

The letter went on to take aim at the West’s imposition of a “world-wide neocolonialist dictatorship,” and its continued efforts to “supply neo-Nazi Kiev authorities with money, weapons and reconnaissance data.”

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