Let’s play a game called “News Headline or Scene from a Rosenberg Book.” Ready? Here goes:

Russian President and North Korean Leader Meet in Vladivostok for Summit

What’s your guess? If you guessed both news headline and scene from a Rosenberg book, then congratulations—you win! The Rosenberg scene is from The Kremlin Conspiracy published in March 2018. In chapter 27, we find Russian President Aleksandr Ivanovich Luganov traveling to Vladivostok for a secret meeting with “The Guiding Star” as the reclusive leader of North Korea preferred to be known. While the Russian president flew to this clandestine summit, the North Korean dictator made the 500-mile journey from Pyongyang by train. Out of the ensuing talks would come a plot that would nearly lead to the deaths of millions of innocents—a scenario that sets the stage for my most recent novel, The Persian Gamble.

Today, to find news of a Russia–North Korea summit, one need only read the pages of the Wall Street Journal and the New York Times. On the heels of North Korea’s April 16 test of a new and somewhat mysterious low-flying short-range missile[1] and Kim Jong Un’s deteriorating “friendship” with President Donald Trump following their failed Hanoi summit, the hermit nation seems to be looking closer to home for new relationships. As a result, likely before the end of April, Russian President Vladimir Putin will fly to Vladivostok where he will meet the North Korean leader, who will be waiting for him having already made the 500-mile journey from Pyongyang by train.[2] This is a historical summit, as these two leaders have never before met. Russian and North Korean heads of state have not come together since 2011 when President Dmitry Medvedev met with Kim Jong Un’s father, Kim Jong Il.[3]

While an agenda for the summit has not been released, it is believed that their discussion will center around Russia’s role in the U.N. and the possibility of loosening some of the U.S.-led sanctions on North Korea. Without a doubt, the United States state department is keeping a very close eye on this meeting. A tighter relationship between these two countries is not only concerning to western nations, but raises huge flags in China, Japan, South Korea, and many others in the Asia-Pacific region. The working friendship that each has with Iran’s dangerous regime only heightens the anxiety. Between these three nations, too much nuclear power is controlled by too little character and self-control. My prayer is that even though the scheduling of this Russia–North Korea summit perfectly parallels The Kremlin Conspiracy, the subject matter discussed will be very different.

---

[1] Sang-hun, Choe. “North Korea’s Latest Weapons Test: Short in Range but Long in Message.” The New York Times, 18 Apr. 2019, www.nytimes.com/2019/04/18/world/asia/north-korea-weapons-test.html.

[2] “North Korea’s Kim to Make Three-Day Visit to Russia from Wednesday for Summit with Putin.” The Japan Times, 18 Apr. 2019, www.japantimes.co.jp/news/2019/04/18/asia-pacific/politics-diplomacy-asia-pacific/north-koreas-kim-make-three-day-visit-russia-wednesday-summit-putin/.

[3] Finnegan, Conor. ABC News, 17 Apr. 2019, abcnews.go.com/Politics/kim-jong-meet-vladimir-putin-north-korea-pivots/story?id=62430012.