Yoon Suk Yeol, president of South Korea, and Fumio Kishida, prime minister of Japan, both expressed concern about growing ties between Russia and North Korea and agreed to continue working on security, according to a Yoon’s office statement on Thursday ( Jul 11 ).
The two leaders met on Wednesday as they gathered for the second time in a row at the Washington conference.
East Asia and its neighbors are concerned about military and economic assistance between Russia and North Korea, Yoon was quoted by his business as saying.
Yoon added that the strengthening ties between Pyongyang and Moscow underscore the relevance of a multilateral summit held last year at Camp David between American President Joe Biden and Japanese Prime Minister Kishida, where they agreed to expand military and economic cooperation.
Yoon has rekindled relationships with Tokyo, which have been hampered by the country’s historic disputes arising from Japan’s occupation of Korea from 1910 to 1945.
Yoon warned Russia about its growing defense ties with North Korea in a new interview with Reuters.
Moscow and Pyongyang accuse North Korea of providing artillery and nuclear weapons to Russia for use in Ukraine, which Seoul and Washington both claim.