Day: September 13, 2023

By Nike Ching

Russian President Vladimir Putin met Wednesday with North Korean leader Kim Jong Un at Russia’s most advanced spaceport amid warnings from the U.S. and South Korea against a potential arms transfer.

Kim pledged his “full and unconditional support” for “all decisions” by Putin, in an apparent reference to Russia’s war on Ukraine, as the two leaders held talks at the Vostochny Cosmodrome in the Amur region of Russia’s far east, near the Chinese border.

The meeting came as media reports quoted unidentified Western officials as saying Russia hopes to receive North Korean artillery shells for use in its war in Ukraine, while Pyongyang appears to want advanced technology for its satellites and nuclear-powered submarines, as well as food assistance from Moscow.

“We need to discuss the issues of economic cooperation and humanitarian issues, as well as the situation in the region,” Putin told Kim.

White House National Security Council spokesman John Kirby told reporters Wednesday the United States has concerns about any kind of potential defense cooperation between Russia and North Korea.

Kirby said the U.S. is carefully monitoring the contacts between Moscow and Pyongyang.

“No nation on the planet, nobody should be helping Mr. Putin kill innocent Ukrainians. And if they decide to move forward with some sort of arms deals, well, obviously we’ll take a measure of that, and we’ll deal with it appropriately,” he said.

At the Vostochny Cosmodrome, Putin and Kim first toured the spaceport, where reporters asked if Russia would help North Korea build satellites.

“That’s why we came here,” Putin said, according to Russian state media. “The leader of the DPRK shows great interest in rocket engineering; they are also trying to develop space.”

DPRK refers to North Korea’s official name, the Democratic People’s Republic of Korea.

As Kim visited Russia Wednesday, North Korea fired two short-range ballistic missiles into the sea off its eastern coast. South Korea’s military said the missiles were launched from near Pyongyang and flew about 650 kilometers.

Ahead of the talks, South Korean officials said they were closely monitoring the first meeting between Kim and Putin in four years.

“Cooperation between Russia and North Korea should be made in the direction of contributing to peace and prosperity on the Korean peninsula while adhering to the relevant UN Security Council resolutions,” a spokesperson from South Korea’s foreign ministry said on Wednesday.

The U.S. and South Korea have renewed warnings to North Korea not to provide munitions to Russia that could be used in the Ukraine war.

“Any transfer of arms from North Korea to Russia would violate multiple United Nations Security Council resolutions,” said U.S. State Department spokesperson Matthew Miller during a Tuesday briefing. “We will monitor what happens and will not hesitate to take action to hold those accountable if necessary.”

Analysts have taken note of China’s silence on the Putin-Kim talks. They said China is cautiously managing the situation and is reluctant to be drawn into the controversy as the world eyes the arms deal talks between North Korea and Russia.

“China does not have to broadcast its position” on the summit meeting between leaders from North Korea and Russia, and therefore highlights “the tensions amid the Ukraine war” as China prepares to host the Asian Games in Hangzhou, according to Jung Dae-jin who is director of Han Peace Institute at Halla University in South Korea.

Others, including Professor Lee Byong-Chol from Kyungnam University’s Institute for Far Eastern Studies, question whether Russia is willing to provide North Korea with very advanced technology.

Lee told VOA Wednesday that Russia will transfer technology to North Korea, as requested by Kim, but Moscow will only transfer very basic technology.

Russian media reported that Kim and Putin had no plans to sign official documents after concluding their one-on-one meeting. Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov said on Wednesday the talks were “important and substantive.”

Kim held his first summit meeting with Putin on April 25, 2019, at the Russian port city of Vladivostok.

Cindy Saine and Lee Juhyun contributed to this report.

SALEM, N.H. – Ararat Armenian Church is holding its famous and delicious shish kebab dinner on Saturday, September 23 from 2:30-7 p.m. Open to the community, the event will be held at the church at 2 Salem Street in Salem, N.H. 

Highlights will include a kids magic show at 5:30 p.m., with a bounce house and face painting for all children. All activities are free.

For the first time in the history of this church picnic, there will be live music to entertain attendees. The music will be provided by Leo Derderian on oud and vocals, Dave Ansbigian on guitar, Bob Arzigian on dumbeg and Gevork Ghiasyan on clarinet. 

The event will feature a full lamb kebab dinner with rice pilaf, salad and apple crisp for $20. All kids eat for free. Proceeds go back into the service of the church. Indoor and outdoor seating will be available, and all are welcome and encouraged to attend. For more information, call Mary Ann at 603-770-3375.

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Guest Contributor

Guest contributions to the Armenian Weekly are informative articles or press releases written and submitted by members of the community.

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Amidst the slow trod of acoustic guitar strums and tinkling bells, Laura Zarougian sang about the Nile and shared a story once told by her 102-year-old grandma Chaké. “My grandmother’s father died while he was on business in Luxor,” Zarougian said about her song, “Cairo.” Her family was given a choice: receive a lump sum of money from his company or bring his body back to Cairo. “Even though they were destitute, they had this sort of Armenian duty and honor and needed to have a proper funeral,” she said. As she sang the Egyptian capital’s name, Zarougian’s voice sounded filled with yearning. “I wonder what she [Grandma Chaké] would think of this music,” she said.

Laura Zarougian is a multi-instrumentalist based in New York whose lyrics often draw from Armenian themes and present a strong sense of place. Though her music is more similar to that of indie folk duo First Aid Kit or Americana icon Emmylou Harris than it is to traditional Armenian sounds, Zarougian noted her songs are “Armenian stories wrapped in folk Americana.” Instead of being accompanied by a dumbeg or oud, Zarougian’s voice swirls around the twang of the pedal steel guitar or occasionally transforms into a yodel. Her country-folk sound is reflective of some of the music she grew up listening to: her parent’s extensive cassettes (featuring the likes of Paul Simon) and songs played on Boston’s folk radio station, WUMB.



Thanks to the patience of her mother, she trained her ear to sing in tune when she was younger. “My mother would sing ‘Edelweiss’ over and over again until I could sing it in tune,” Zarougian explained. She was also inspired to learn to play violin upon seeing a “woman ripping it up with an American fiddle,” and her curiosity later led her to pick up the lute and guitar, the primary instrument she plays on her upcoming debut album. 

Zarougian and her partner, drummer Mike Alan Hams, recorded the album Nayiri in Boston after leaving Brooklyn during the pandemic. The lack of live shows as a result of the COVID-19 pandemic meant the pair finally had time to record. “This is the time to go in and do it, while the songs are still in our fingers,” she recalled thinking to herself. It was during this time that she wrote the title track “Nayiri,” a song that references the quaking leaves of poplar trees and touches on a decision many diasporan Armenians grapple with—to choose to continue to live in the diaspora or to repatriate to Armenia. 

The theme of searching for home and the return to home is one that crops up again on “Back to Piran,” a track with an electric guitar solo that ends with the soft crashing of cymbals. “Piran is where my maternal grandfather’s family is from. It’s a composite of family stories about exile,” Zarougian said. “The chorus is about people not returning, hoping that someone will return, hearing word that someone got killed along the way.” It’s also a song that reveals one of the ways Zarougian stayed connected to the Armenian language. “My mom would sing me lullabies in Armenian. That was one of the main ways I heard Armenian growing up,” she said. On the song “Back to Piran,” Zarougian sings, “You rocked me to sleep when I was just a girl / and the songs my mama sang me that her mama sang before / what I wouldn’t give to hear you sing once more.” Though many diasporan Armenians can no longer physically access their homelands, music – like Zarougian’s lullabies – is a way to reconnect with the culture, community and life that was robbed from them during the Armenian Genocide. 

When discussing the potential of exploring more traditional Armenian music on future songs – as well as her search for vinyl records of old kef music – Zarougian shared an idea for a new blend of sounds. “Someone needs to take a pedal steel [guitar] and do a mash-up with traditional Armenian instruments in a monastery,” she said with a smile. Perhaps that’s something for us to look forward to on her next record. 

Laura Zarougian’s debut album Nayiri comes out on September 15, 2023.

Author information

Knar Bedian

Knar Bedian is the Editor in Chief and co-founder of Sound of Boston, and a freelance music journalist who has been published in the likes of Billboard, Gizmodo, and Wired. She is also a marketing manager at Intrepid Pursuits and an active member of the Armenian Youth Federation (AYF). Knar is a graduate of Tufts University, where she majored in Sociology and Spanish, with a minor in Mass Communications and Media Studies. During her time at Tufts she served as the Photography Director for the university’s student magazine, The Observer. She has had her work published in a variety of online and print publications including the British Council Blog, FastCompany.com, and the Armenian Weekly.

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