(Photo: VNA)

The meeting —  two months after the collapse of talks between leader Kim and US President Trump in Hanoi — offered both Kim and Putin a chance to send a message to Washington.

For Kim, closer ties with Moscow could give North Korea another card to play in its nuclear negotiations with the US. The North expects Russia to call for the lifting of UN sanctions.   

North Korea is among the few issues that Russia and the US agree on amidst their conflicts over Ukraine, Syria, and charges of Russian interference in the 2016 US Presidential election. Russia wants to play a primary role in peace diplomacy. Russia once proposed to the US a joint action plan to resolve North Korea’s nuclear issues. The Putin-Kim summit shows that Russia is gearing up to play a bigger role in nuclear negotiations and expand its influence in East Asia.