North Korean leader Kim Jong-un is highly likely to visit Russia in May, with both countries deciding between Moscow and Vladivostok as the meeting location.
Kremlin spokesperson Dmitry Peskov said on March 24 that Kim has received a “valid” invitation to visit Russia and that coordination is ongoing through diplomatic channels. However, he added, “We are not ready to make any official announcements yet,” suggesting that discussions are still underway.
During his visit to Pyongyang last June, Russian President Vladimir Putin invited Kim to visit Russia. More recently, Russian Security Council Secretary Sergei Shoigu met with Kim and noted that 2025 will be a year of active bilateral exchanges, including the 80th anniversary of Victory Day in May.
However, the Kremlin-affiliated Telegram channel “Kremlin Snuffbox” cited sources saying Kim’s visit is planned for early May but is unlikely to include Moscow. The report noted that Kim is hesitant to be away from Pyongyang for too long, making Vladivostok the likely meeting site between May 3 and 5.
Kim previously traveled to Vladivostok in April 2019 and to the Vostochny Cosmodrome in September 2023, both times using his armored train. With no direct flights between Pyongyang and Moscow, flying would require chartering a plane from a third country, as he did for the 2018 North Korea-U.S. summit in Singapore. A train journey to Moscow would take at least six days. By comparison, his father Kim Jong-il traveled to Moscow by armored train in 2001, spending 23 days on the round trip.
Russia’s Victory Day celebrations pose a diplomatic challenge for Kim, as the event is a multilateral gathering attended by numerous world leaders. Since taking power, he has only engaged in one-on-one summits and has never participated in multilateral diplomacy. A diplomatic source noted, “Unlike bilateral meetings, multilateral events don’t provide the same level of personalized protocol for Kim, making his attendance at Victory Day a high-stakes gamble.”
