North Korean leader Kim Jong Un was all smiles when he arrived in Russia Tuesday aboard his signature green armored train ahead of planned talks with President Vladimir Putin — amid increasingly urgent warnings from the West that they must not result in an arms deal.

Kim’s rare foreign trip got under way in the city of Khasan in the far eastern Primorsky region near the border with North Korea, where he was welcomed by regional Governor Oleg Kozhemyako and Russian Minister of Natural Resources Oleg Kozhemyako, reported the state news agency TASS.

The 39-year-old head of the Democratic People’s Republic of Korea was greeted by an honor guard and a military band after emerging from his special train and descending a short flight of stairs covered with a red carpet

“A visit of this level is a good message for the most active development of broad ties and direct contacts with colleagues from the DPRK,” Kozhemyako was quoted as saying.

The minister said the Russian delegation had discussed the potential launch this year of joint tourism and agricultural ventures — and hoped to deepen economic ties with Pyongyang.

Kim’s final destination was not immediately known. It was widely believed that he and his Russian counterpart would meet in Vladivostok, a major Pacific port 170 northwest of Khasan where the two leaders had their last meeting in 2019.

Putin was in Vladivostok Tuesday for the Eastern Economic Forum, where he gave a speech hyping Russia’s trade opportunities with countries in Asia Pacific. 

Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov confirmed only that Kim has entered Russia, and state news agency RIA-Novosti later reported his slow-moving train had headed north after crossing the Razdolnaya River, taking it away from Vladivostok.

Some Russian news outlets speculated that Kim is headed for the remote Vostochny spaceport, which Putin was scheduled to visit shortly.

Putin said Tuesday that he was planning to go to Vostochny, more than 930 miles to the north, but did not say if he planned to meet his North Korean ally there.

He also would not reveal what he intended to do at the space launch site, adding cryptically: “when I get there, you will know.”

Peskov said Putin and Kim will meet sometime after the Vladivostok forum, and that the “full-fledged” summit would include negotiations between the two sides, a lunch in the guest’s honor and possibly a tet-a-tet between the heads of state. 

Washington and its allies have expressed a growing concern that the isolated and cash-strapped North Korea would be willing to sell munitions to Russia to help replenish its supplies depleted by more than 18 months of fighting in Ukraine.

Pyongyang and Moscow have denied that North Korea could send military equipment to Russia.

But Peskov said Russia’s policies would be dictated by its national interests, and not by Western finger-wagging.  

“While implementing our relations with our neighbors, including North Korea, the interests of our two countries are important to us, and not warnings from Washington,” Peskov was quoted as saying by Russian media.

The make-up of Kim’s delegation accompanying him on the Russia trip, including top defense industry and military officials — among them Munitions Industry Department Director Jo Chun Ryong — suggested an agenda heavy on defense industry cooperation, analysts said.

Russian Defense Minister Sergei Shoigu will be part of the Russian delegation, Peskov said.

Kim could offer tens of millions of ageing bust still usable artillery shells and rockets from North Korea’s vast stockpile, which would be compatible with Russian weapons. In exchange, North Korea could seek economic aid and weapons technologies from Russia. 

On Monday, Washington urged Pyongyang to make good on its promise not to sell arms to Russia, which it said would violate the resolutions of the United Nations’ Security Council.

“We urge the DPRK to abide by the public commitments that Pyongyang has made to not provide or sell arms to Russia,” said Adrienne Watson, spokesperson for the White House National Security Council.

State Department spokesman Matthew Miller reiterated that “any transfer of arms from North Korea to Russia would be a violation of multiple UN Security Council resolutions,” and that the US “will not hesitate to impose new sanctions.”

Addressing the upcoming meeting between Putin and Kim, an official in the administration of South Korean President Yoon Suk Yeol said: “we hope Russia will act responsibly as a permanent member of the UN Security Council.”

US National Security Council warned before Kim’s trip that arms talks between North Korea and Russia were “actively advancing” following Shoigu’s visit to Pyongyang in July, during which he was invited to a military showcase and a parade that included banned ballistic missiles. 

With Post wires