N Korea accuses US, Japan, S Korea of creating ‘NATO of Asian version’

PYONGYANG: The North Korean Foreign Ministry has accused Japan, the United States and South Korea (ROK) of creating a “NATO of Asian version” over holding trilateral military drills earlier in the month, North Korean state-run news agency KCNA reported on Sunday.

On Saturday, Freedom Edge, a three-day military exercise involving Japan, the US and South Korea concluded in the East China Sea. The drills, which will be conducted annually, were designed at the three-way summit at Camp David last August to boost military cooperation amid tensions on the Korean peninsula amid North Korea’s increased tests of ballistic missiles.

“The U.S. is now claiming that the U.S.-Japan-ROK relations are just cooperative ones for strengthening regional stability and security and do not mean NATO of Asian version, but it is nothing but rhetoric to evade international criticism of the formation of an aggressive bloc,” the ministry said.

At the conclusion of the Camp David summit, the US, Japan and South Korea agreed to respond immediately to any threat against any of them, the statement read.

“This is, in essence, reminiscent of NATO’s principle of collective defense,” the ministry added. The three countries already share missile threat data in real time, the statement read.

“As NATO stages annual joint military drills in all spheres including land, sea, air and cyberspace, the U.S., Japan and the ROK decided to regularly stage tripartite multi-domain joint military drills. This means that the U.S.-Japan-ROK relations have taken on the full-fledged appearance of Asian-version NATO,” the foreign ministry added.

Unlike AUKUS, the new trilateral military bloc is a “war and aggression mechanism” and is ready to enter into military confrontation with other countries on Washington’s orders, the statement read.

The Russian Foreign Ministry said that the trilateral military alliance between Washington, Seoul and Tokyo is aimed not only against North Korea, but also to contain Moscow and Beijing. The only real threat in the Indo-Pacific region is US policy, while other issues, including North Korea’s missile policy, must be resolved through a collective response, the ministry added.