North Korean authorities have accused Japan, South Korea, and the United States of moving towards the creation of what they called "Asian NATO" amid the regions' scheduled attendance of NATO's annual summit in Madrid.
Pyongyang said that the U.S. and its regional allies have a "sinister aim" toward it after they conducted joint military drills. On Wednesday, state-run news media KCNA released reports hours before leaders of Japan and South Korea would become observers at the NATO summit for the first time.
Asian NATO
Representatives from Seoul and Tokyo are scheduled to meet with United States President Joe Biden at the NATO summit to discuss North Korea. It would be the first such trilateral summit since 2017. The three regions will also conduct a combined missile detection and tracking exercise near Hawaii in August called "Pacific Dragon."
KCNA noted that the U.S. was getting "hell-bent" on military cooperation with its so-called "stooges" in disregard of the primary security demand and concern of Asia-pacific countries. It also accused Washington of fomenting a new Cold War, saying that the scheme for the formation of the U.S.-Japan-South Korea military alliance was motivated by the latter two's kowtowing to the U.S., as per Aljazeera.
The North Korean news outlet carried a separate commentary by Kim Hyo-myung, a researcher at the country's International Society for Political Research. He said that NATO was responsible for the war in Ukraine and noted that there were "ominous signs that sooner or later the black waves in the North Atlantic will break the calm in the Pacific."
The official said that NATO was nothing more than a servant of the realization of the U.S. hegemony strategy and a tool of local aggression. North Korea's foreign ministry released a similar statement over the weekend, saying the joint military drills with South Korea and Japan showed the hypocrisy of the U.S. and its offers of diplomatic engagement and dialogue without conditions.
According to Reuters, the North's remarks come after it has conducted a record number of missile tests this year, including its largest intercontinental ballistic missile. There have been international concerns that Pyongyang was preparing to test a nuclear weapon for the first time since 2017.
Japan, South Korea, and the United States
Despite Japan and South Korea being allies with the U.S., their relationship with each other has been strained by historical tensions over Japan's occupation of Korea from 1940 to 1945. American leaders have pushed Seoul and Tokyo to cooperate more in the face of threats from North Korea and the rising global influence of China.
The situation comes as South Korean Foreign Minister Park Jin is also expected to postpone his trip to Japan until after the election in the country. The South Korean presidential official added that momentum toward resolving pending issues between the two nations is expected to grow after the poll.
The trilateral summit between the leaders of Japan, South Korea, and the United States, is scheduled to be held on Wednesday at around 2:30 p.m. but is still subject to change. South Korea planned earlier this week to set up a delegation to NATO in Brussels as Seoul pushes to bolster its partnership with the organization and play a bigger role on the global stage, the Japan Times reported.
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