North Korea's Korean Central News Agency reported on the 4th that Kim Jong Un, Chairman of the State Affairs Commission of North Korea, and Russian President Vladimir Putin held talks on the 3rd at the Diaoyutai State Guesthouse in Beijing while Kim was visiting China to attend the 80th anniversary of Victory Day military parade. [Yonhap News]

While Russia's Victory Day commemorating the end of World War II (hereafter referred to as Victory Day) is two days away, it has been reported that there have been no sightings of State Affairs Commission Chairman Kim Jong Un's movements related to visiting Russia for Victory Day.

A Unification Ministry official, responding to reporters' questions on the 7th at the Government Complex Seoul about prospects for Chairman Kim's attendance at Russia's Victory Day ceremony, stated, "Victory Day is on the 9th, and as of now, we have no information about any related movements."

"There have also been no sightings of movements from other high-ranking officials heading to Russia," the official added.

In this regard, the list of attendees for the Victory Day event announced by the Russian side on the same day did not include a North Korean delegation.

According to TASS news agency, Yuri Ushakov, foreign policy advisor to the Kremlin, told reporters that invitations had been sent to high-ranking officials from various countries who expressed a desire to commemorate Victory Day with Russia in Moscow.

Ushakov explained that leaders from Belarus, Laos, Malaysia, Slovakia, the Serb Republic of Bosnia and Herzegovina, and the self-proclaimed autonomous regions of Abkhazia and South Ossetia, which declared independence from Georgia, would be attending.

"Unlike last year, we have not extended special invitations to foreign dignitaries this year," he said.

Chairman Kim has visited the Russian Far East twice to meet with President Vladimir Putin, but he has never visited Moscow.

President Putin visited Pyongyang in June 2024, held talks with Chairman Kim, and signed the "Treaty on Comprehensive Strategic Partnership."

Under this treaty, North Korea dispatched troops to aid Russia in the Russia-Ukraine War and sent a military delegation, including three generals from the dispatched troops, to last year's Victory Day military parade in Russia.

This year, attention was focused on the possibility of Chairman Kim visiting Moscow, marking the one-year anniversary of the end of the counteroffensive operation in the Kursk region where North Korean forces were deployed.

Russia plans to hold a scaled-down Victory Day event on the 9th at Moscow's Red Square, anticipating potential Ukrainian air strikes and thus omitting the military equipment parade, which differs from previous years.