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SEOUL, South Korea (AP) \u2014 North Korean leader Kim Jong Un held discussions with Russia\u2019s defense minister on strengthening \u201cstrategic and tactical coordination\u201d between the countries\u2019 militaries, the North’s state media said Sunday, as Kim continued a visit to Russia\u2019s Far East that has raised concerns about an arms alliance that would fuel Moscow\u2019s war on Ukraine<\/a>.<\/p>\n The talks with Defense Minister Sergei Shoigu came after Kim on Friday was shown some of Russia\u2019s most advanced weapons systems<\/a> deployed for its war on Ukraine, including nuclear-capable bombers and hypersonic missiles, and a key warship of its Pacific fleet, the Korean Central News Agency said.<\/p>\n Kim\u2019s trip, highlighted by a summit with Russian President Vladimir Putin<\/a> on Wednesday, has underscored how their interests are aligning in the face of separate, intensifying confrontations with the West. U.S. and South Korean officials have said North Korea could provide badly needed munitions for Putin\u2019s war on Ukraine in exchange for sophisticated Russian weapons technology that would advance Kim\u2019s nuclear ambitions.<\/p>\n While his predominant focus is on military cooperation, Kim also appears to be using his trip to encourage broader exchanges between the countries as he tries to break out of diplomatic isolation.<\/p>\n The governor of Russia\u2019s Primorye region, which includes Vladivostok, said he plans to meet with Kim on Sunday. Gov. Oleg Kozhemyako said on his messaging app channel they would discuss exchange programs for schoolchildren to attend summer camps in one another’s country and other ways to cooperate in sports, tourism and culture. Russian media said Kim may also visit food industry businesses in Primorye.<\/p>\n A day after visiting an aircraft plant in Komsomolsk-on-Amur that produces Russia\u2019s most powerful fighter jets, Kim on Saturday traveled to an airport near the port city of Vladivostok, where Shoigu and other senior military officials gave him an up-close look at Russia\u2019s strategic bombers and other warplanes.<\/p>\n All the Russian warplanes shown to Kim were among the types that have seen active use in the war in Ukraine, including the Tu-160, Tu-95 and Tu-22 bombers that have regularly launched cruise missiles.<\/p>\n During Kim\u2019s visit, Shoigu and Lt. Gen. Sergei Kobylash, the commander of the Russian long-range bomber force, confirmed for the first time that the Tu-160 had recently received new cruise missiles with a range of more than 6,500 kilometers (over 4,040 miles).<\/p>\n Shoigu, who had met Kim during a rare visit to North Korea in July<\/a>, also showed Kim another of Russia\u2019s latest missiles, the hypersonic Kinzhal, carried by the MiG-31 fighter jet, that saw its first combat during the war in Ukraine.<\/p>\n Kim and Shoigu later traveled to Vladivostok, where they inspected the Admiral Shaposhnikov frigate. Russia\u2019s navy commander, Adm. Nikolai Yevmenov, briefed Kim on the ship\u2019s capabilities and weapons, which include long-range Kalibr cruise missiles that Russian warships have regularly fired at targets in Ukraine.<\/p>\n KCNA, which has reported Kim\u2019s activities in Russia a day late while crafting the details to meet government propaganda purposes, said Kim was accompanied on Saturday\u2019s visits by his top military officials, including his defense minister and the top commanders of his air force and navy.<\/p>\n Following a luncheon, Kim and Shoigu talked about the regional security environment and exchanged views on \u201cpractical issues arising in further strengthening the strategic and tactical coordination, cooperation and mutual exchange between the armed forces of the two countries,\u201d KCNA said.<\/p>\n In their July meeting, Kim gave Shoigu a similar inspection of North Korean weapons systems before inviting him to a massive parade in the capital, Pyongyang, where he rolled out his most powerful intercontinental ballistic missiles designed to target the United States.<\/p>\n Kim\u2019s visits to military and technology sites this week possibly hint at what he wants from Russia, perhaps in exchange for supplying munitions to refill Putin\u2019s declining reserves as his invasion of Ukraine becomes a drawn-out war of attrition.<\/p>\n Kim’s meeting with Putin was held at Russia\u2019s main spaceport, a location that pointed to his desire for Russian assistance<\/a> in his efforts to acquire space-based reconnaissance assets and missile technologies.<\/p>\n Experts have said potential military cooperation between the countries could include efforts to modernize North Korea\u2019s outdated air force, which relies on warplanes sent from the Soviet Union in the 1980s.<\/p>\n Kim in recent months has also refocused on strengthening the country\u2019s navy, which analysts say could be driven by ambitions to obtain Russia\u2019s sophisticated technologies for ballistic missile submarines and nuclear-propelled submarines as well as to initiate joint naval exercises between Russia and North Korea.<\/a><\/p>\n Later Saturday, Kim visited a local theater to watch Pyotr Tchaikovsky\u2019s Sleeping Beauty ballet performance. KCNA said Kim received a rousing ovation by people at the theater and expressed \u201cdeep thanks to the performers and the theater for their impressive and elegant ballet of high artistic value.\u201d<\/p>\n Russia’s RIA Novosti state news agency said Kim left after the first act.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n