Moscow announced on Wednesday that North
Korea’s leader Kim Jong Eun has confirmed his
attendance at an event scheduled for May in Russia, marking the country’s 70th anniversary of defeating Germany in World War Two.
The Kremlin verified this through a
written statement from spokesman Dmitry Peskov, issued in response to
a request from South Korea’s Yonhap News Agency. “Roughly 20 state leaders have confirmed their attendance, and North
Korea’s leader is one of them,”
the statement read, though it did not explicitly refer to Kim Jong Eun by name.
This is the first time a high-level
official from Moscow has confirmed Kim Jong Eun’s plans
to attend the May festivities in Russia.
“We are still in the process of confirming
who will be attending, so the list has not been finalized,” the Kremlin press office added. It did not elaborate further on
which countries had confirmed their attendance.
Just like the 60th anniversary, the
countries invited encompass the Allies against Nazi Germany during World War Two,
close partners and allies of Russia, and BRICS countries, according to the
Kremlin.
During a press conference on the 21st, Russia’s Foreign
Minister Sergei Lavrov said that
Moscow had received the “first sign of a positive
response” for Kim Jong Eun’s attendance. At the time, he also stated that roughly 20 other heads
of state, including China’s Xi Jinping, had confirmed their
participation in the event.
This announcement from Russia lends weight to the likelihood that Kim’s trip will materialize, but much time remains until the May event, and conditions surrounding the
Korean Peninsula could shift abruptly, which is why some warn it is too early
to tell whether he truly make the trip.
Russia holds its V-Day event celebrating
victory against Nazi Germany on May 9th each year, and invites heads of state
to larger celebrations held every ten years.
For the 60th anniversary, North Korea’s former leader Kim Jong Il was also invited but did not attend, while South Korea’s late president Roh Moo Hyun did.
Leaders of 53 countries, including the then-President of the United States, George W. Bush, China’s Hu Jintao, and Japan’s Prime Minister
Junichiro Koizumi, attended at the time.
