Image: Reuters Berita 24 English - According to the North Korean state news agency KCNA, joint exercises by the US, South Korea, and Japan ...
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| Image: Reuters |
Berita 24 English - According to the North Korean state news agency KCNA, joint exercises by the US, South Korea, and Japan have a "sinister intent" toward North Korea and are a perilous precursor to the establishment of a "Asian version of NATO."
Hours before the leaders of South Korea and Japan were scheduled to attend the annual NATO meeting as observers for the first time, reports on KCNA surfaced. It will be the first such trilateral summit since 2017 and they will also discuss North Korea with Vice President Joe Biden of the United States.
In August, the three nations will also take part in an exercise called Pacific Dragon that combines missile monitoring and detection.
The major security need and concern of Asia-Pacific countries are being disregarded by the U.S. as it pursues military cooperation with its stooges, according to KCNA.
The North's foreign ministry said the exercises exposed the absurdity of American offers of unconditional diplomatic engagement and dialogue in a similar statement over the weekend.
There are worries that North Korea may be getting ready to test a nuclear weapon for the first time since 2017. The country has performed a record number of missile tests this year, including one with its largest intercontinental ballistic missile.
Although South Korea and Japan are both U.S. allies, their historical hostilities over Japan's occupation of Korea from 1910 to 1945 have strained their relations.
In response to challenges from North Korea and to offset the growing power of China, Washington has pushed Seoul and Tokyo to work together more.
"The plan to establish the U.S.-Japan-South Korea military alliance, motivated by Japan's and South Korea's submission to the U.S., is evidently a dangerous precursor to the creation of the 'Asian version of NATO,'" the Korean Central News Agency (KCNA) claimed, accusing Washington of igniting a new Cold War.
The International Society for Political Research in North Korea's Kim Hyo-myung said in a separate commentary that NATO was to blame for the conflict in Ukraine and that there were "ominous signals that sooner or later the black waves in the North Atlantic will disturb the quiet in the Pacific."
In Kim's words, "NATO is nothing more than an instrument of local aggression and a servant of the accomplishment of the U.S. hegemonic policy."
