Peace offering?

North Korea is ready to resume talks on its nuclear program, a Kremlin spokeswoman revealed Wednesday after talks between Russian president Dmitry Medvedev and North Korean leader Kim Jong Il.

"Kim Jong Il expressed readiness to return to six-party talks without preconditions," Natalya Timakova said. "In the course of the talks the North Koreans will be ready to resolve the issue of imposing a moratorium on testing and production of missile and nuclear weaponry."

Disarmament talks had collapsed in 2009 and Pyongyang has since resumed its nuclear testing.

The talks also focused on Russian aid to impoverished North Korea and plans to build a pipeline through the country to supply South Korea with Russian gas.

Utmost secrecy

The meeting was held at a military base in Russia's Buryatia republic in Siberia. Kim had been traveling through the far east of Russia since the weekend in an armored train and under complete secrecy en route to Wednesday's meeting with the Russian President.

"Russia is going along with all of this secrecy and safety requirements because that's the only way to arrange a meeting with Kim Jong Il," Russian foreign policy expert Fyodor Lyukyanov told Deutsche Welle.

"That's how he lives and travels - for us of course it seems quite absurd. But if you want something from them, then you have to play their game."

Balancing act

The visit of the North Korean strongman comes just three months after a trip to China. Pyongyang depends on both Moscow and Beijing for its political, military and economic survival, North Korea’s main allies during the Cold War period.

Yet since the collapse of the Soviet Union, relations with Russia have significantly cooled and Kim Jong Il had to rely on closer ties with China to keep his destitute country afloat.

The trip to Russia is seen as an attempt to balance China's influence as Pyongyang's sole economic lifeline. Kim last visited Russia in 2002 when he met with then-president Vladimir Putin in Vladivostok.

Living in isolation

North Korea is desperate for outside aid as the economy of the Stalinist country is struggling to supply even basic food stocks to its population.

Medvedev said that on the eve of Kim's trip, Russia was sending some 50,000 tons of wheat to North Korea.

The 69-year old Kim could also be looking to prepare a smooth transition of power to his son, Jong Un, for whom he will try to secure the backing of both China and Russia.

"I don’t think that ending up in isolation like this was what North Korea always wanted" Lyukyanov said.

"And Kim Jong Il would like to change this a bit - he is trying to create different circumstances for his son, who will succeed him sometime soon. That's why he's acting as he is at the moment. But, of course, the room he has for maneuvering is very narrow considering the specifics of his regime."

Author: Andreas Illmer (dpa, Reuters, AFP)
Editor: Rob Turner