SEOUL - Russian President Vladimir Putin is notorious for making world leaders wait for scheduled meetings. Yet on Wednesday, Putin showed up 30 minutes early to greet North Korea's Kim Jong Un.
Whether it was intentional or not, Putin's unusual punctuality highlighted his keen interest in meeting with Kim - one of Putin's only friends in the aftermath of the Russian invasion of Ukraine. The feeling was clearly reciprocated by the days-long train journey taken by his Korean counterpart in his first trip abroad in four years.