count taking a look at state of
the art Russian warplanes and
his concern about he and
Vladimir Putin will continue to
scheme consequence the U.S. And
its allies.
North Korea's leader beaming as
he likes skyward.
Kim Jong-un visiting a plant
that manufacturers warplanes in
Russia's far east.
Kim got the red carpet treatment
after arriving on his armored
train.
He climbed up and looked at the
cockpit of a Russian fighter jet
and was briefed by the pilot.
This comes after Kim met with
Russian president Vladimir Putin
for several houses as a Russian
cosmodrome on Wednesday, stoking
concerns that Kim's regime is
supplying Putin with weapons for
the war in Ukraine.
The Kremlin denies that, and
Putin's spokesman says, quote,
no agreements were signed during
the putin/kim meeting.
Do you buy that?
>> This is Kremlin speak.
They say that to calm people's
concerning and there are a lot
of people who are concerned
about this visit this, meeting.
>> Reporter: In fact, an
official from South Korea's
presidential office says weapons
provided by North Korea have
already been used by Russia on
the battlefield in Ukraine, and
the Biden administration
believes North Korea delivered
rockets and missiles last year
for use in Ukraine by Wagner
mercenary forces.
>> Talks about the provision of
weapons by North Korea to Russia
to kill Ukrainians have been
advancing and continue to
advance.
>> Reporter: What would both Kim
Jong-un and Vladimir Putin get
from any deal?
>> Russia on the one hand needs
quite desperately needs sources
of ammunition and in some cases
artillery systems themselves.
>> Reporter: North Korea,
analysts say, is looking to get
advanced Russian technology for
its weapons and possibly the
kind of modern fighter jets that
Kim just inspected, but it's not
just weapons that these
dictators need.
>> North Korea needs food.
It always needs food.
In addition, I think this is
worth watching, Russia needs
labor.
Russia is currently facing the
most severe labor shortages
since records began.
>> Reporter: And North Korea has
opinion known to send laborerers
to Russia in the past.
Analysts say this rekindled
friendship between Putin and Kim
while evoking fears of cold war
style partnerships of the past
also signals a reduction in
stature for the former kgb
colonel in the Kremlin.
It wasn't that long ago that
Vladimir Putin was attending
summits with g-20 leaders and
doing photo-ops with American,
German and Australian leaders.
Now he's seen with outcast heads
of state like Kim and
belarussian president Alexander
lukaschenko.
>> He's no longer on the a-list
in Hollywood.
He's on the "B" list and the
movies become more predictable
and boring and are still
dangerous.
>> Reporter: Two analysts we
spoke to say what they are even
more worried about the north
Korea supplying weapons and
ammunition to Russia is the
possibility that that kind of a
deal could open the door for
China to start sending weapons
to Russia secretly through north
Korea.
Wolf?
>> All right.
Thank you.
Brian Todd reporting.
For more on this I'm joined by
Sydney siler, a former
intelligence officer at the
intelligence council.
How does the U.S. Intelligence
community monitor when Kim and
Putin will get out of their high
stakes and dramatic meetings?
>> Wolf, again, thanks for the
invitation.
As you see in the information
that we've released until now in
terms our understanding of the
initial negotiations for some of
the arms that have already been
provided as well as the white
house release a few weeks ago
about the upcoming summit,
there's efforts under way to
follow these actions.
I can't give any more details
than that, but certainly, too,
for both of these countries to
maximize the political and
diplomatic benefits of this
interaction there's going to
have to be more of a public
dimension to this going forward.
Otherwise this just ends up as a
one-off highly symbolic with
some dark room missile deals,
weapons deals that could have
taken place in the background
anyway, so it's almost a
secondary importance at this
point to kind of the strategic
message that these two sides are
trying to send.
>> As U know, this has been a
record year of record nuclear
provocations from North Korea.
Take us inside Kim's head.
Do you think he'll walk away
from this lavish trip to Russia
even more emboldened?
>> Wolf, that is absolutely the
biggest concern that I think we
have to face here, whether it's
merely bus Russia provides some
technologies maybe to -- to
service some aging soviet era
fighter aircraft or to provide
some type of assistance to help
Kim have a successful satellite
launch.
Whatever Russia does for north
Korea can actually further
embolden both Kim in terms of
the capabilities that he will
now have as well as the behavior
that he might maybe seek to
emulate in terms of Vladimir
Putin using military force to
achieve strategic objectives,
willing to run against the
international community, ignore
international norms and
standards and in that type of
behavior if Kim believes he now
has a flashing yellow light,
that could be potentially
destabilizing and dangerous on
the pens pla.
>> Certainly could be.
If North Korea were to provide
weapons to Russia for its war in
Ukraine, do you think that could
pave the way for China to
covertly do the same thing?
>> I think -- I don't know that
China's calculation would
necessarily be impacted so much
by this deal.
I think China's got its own
calculation in terms of what
it's willing to do, how far it's
willing to associate itself with
Vladimir Putin's actions, how
much assistance China is willing
to give to Russia.
You know, there's a reputational
Rick for China should it appear
to closely hey line with
Russia's efforts in Ukraine, and
I don't know that -- that had