Vladimir Putin and Kim Jong Un hold first summit

Vladimir Putin will be the sixth world leader to meet Kim Jong Un since he took control of North Korea in 2011. All of these meetings have happened since 2018, when Kim's regime emerged from the shadows and began a diplomatic charm offensive.

So far, Kim has met Chinese President Xi Jinping, South Korean President Moon Jae-in, Singapore Prime Minister Lee Hsien Loong, US President Donald Trump and Vietnamese President Nguyen Phu Trong.

Kim has met Xi on four trips to China -- three to Beijing and one to Dalian. Kim's March 2018 trip to the Chinese capital was his first excursion trip outside North Korea since ascending to power.

He then visited Dalian in May and was back in Beijing in June shortly after his summit in Singapore with Trump. Kim also visited Beijing in January 2019.

South Korea's Moon has met Kim three times, all in 2018 -- twice at the demilitarized zone dividing the two Koreas and once in Pyongyang.

Kim has held two summits with Trump, one in Singapore in June 2018 and another in the Vietnamese capital of Hanoi in February 2019.

On both those visits he also met the leaders of the host countries.

North Korea has ousted Kim Yong Chol as the head of relations with South Korea, said a South Korean government official on Thursday.

South Korean Lawmaker Lee Hye-hoon, the chairwoman of the National Assembly's Intelligence Committee, told local media that Kim had been removed from his position running the government's United Front Department sometime in mid-April.

The United Front Department manages with all things South Korea, including Pyongyang's relationship with Seoul and using propaganda to foment pro-North Korean views in the South.

Kim has also served as US Secretary of State Mike Pompeo's counterpart in nuclear negotiations with the United States and organizing the two summits between US President Donald Trump and Kim Jong Un.

It's unclear if Kim Yong Chol's role in talks with Washington has changed, as he still holds other important titles inside North Korea.

After entering Russia, it took Kim Jong Un about nine hours to get to the eastern port city of Vladivostok by train, according to Russian state-run news agency TASS.

Kim's train likely passed through a single-track railway along the borders of the "Land of the Leopard" National Park to a station in the city of Ussuriysk, TASS reported. That 260 kilometer-journey (162 miles) was believed to last about seven hours. 

From Ussuriysk, the train then linked to the Trans-Siberian Railway leading to Vladivostok. That portion of the journey is about 70 kilometers (43 miles) and expected to take two hours, according to TASS.

Upon crossing into Russia by train on Wednesday, North Korean leader Kim Jong Un said he was "happy to be on Russian soil," according to the official website of the Russian region of Primorsky, where the meeting is taking place.

"I came to Russia with the warm feeling of our people," Kim told state media Russia 24 upon arrival. He continued:

I hope that this visit will be successful and useful, and that during the negotiations with esteemed President Putin, I will be able to specifically discuss issues of resolving the situation on the Korean Peninsula and developing our bilateral relations.

Analysts have speculated that Kim's meeting with Putin could be a way for the young North Korean leader to assess his diplomatic options outside talks with the United States.

Pyongyang also may be seeking to lessen its economic reliance on Beijing, North Korea's only significant trading partner. Former North Korean leader Kim Il Sung was notorious for playing China and the Soviet Union off of each other in order to maximize foreign investment.

North Korea may also hope for Russian support in pressuring Washington over sanctions relief, which continues to be a major sticking issue in denuclearization talks. The Trump administration has said sanctions will only be lifted after North Korea gives up its nuclear weapons program.

Russia, however, has previously stated it believes sanctions should be lifted in phases.

Kim Jong Un was greeted with plenty of pomp upon arriving in Russia yesterday, but the Kremlin has set limited expectations for the summit. A key aide to Russian President Vladimir Putin said the two leaders do not plan to sign any agreements or come out with a joint statement.

The meeting does, however, offer Russia an opportunity to assert itself, once again, on the international stage.

Putin may have been sidelined by the high-profile Trump-Kim summits that have dominated headlines for months. Now Russia's strongman president is back at the center of attention.

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