North Korea asked Russia to provide air force with advanced fighter jets: report
Russia's President Putin received a request from senior North Korean officials for export of sophisticated military aircraft, South Korean official says
PUBLISHED : Friday, 09 January, 2015, 10:49am
UPDATED : Friday, 09 January, 2015, 11:45am
Associated Press in Seoul
North Korea asked Russia to provide its armed forces with advanced fighter jets in a meeting between its special envoy and Russian President Vladimir Putin in November last year, a Seoul daily newspaper reported on Friday, citing a senior South Korean military official.
“Choe Ryong-hae, who visited Moscow as a special envoy of North Korean leader Kim Jong-un in November last year, asked Putin to provide Sukhoi Su-35 fighter jets,” the official told the JoongAng Ilbo.
On the prospects of North Korea actually purchasing the Russian fighter jets, the official sounded a negative note, saying, “But because of international sanctions imposed on the North, Russia won’t likely sell it readily.”
Choe, a high-ranking member of the North’s ruling Workers’ Party of Korea, met with Putin in Moscow on November 18 and handed him a personal message from the North Korean leader.
Two days later, after holding talks with Choe, Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov told reporters they confirmed the two countries’ “readiness to have contacts at all levels, including the highest one” at mutually convenient times.
“The North produces many weapons systems domestically, but it appears to have sought Russia’s help because building fighter jets requires more complex technologies,” the official was quoted as saying.
It is unknown how many jets the North attempted to acquire.
A spate of high-level exchanges in recent months between Pyongyang and Moscow has fuelled speculation that Russia will be Kim’s choice for his first overseas trip since taking office nearly three years ago.
Choe was accompanied by several other senior officials, including Kim Kye-gwan, North Korea’s first vice-foreign minister and its principal spokesman on nuclear issues.
