Japan, U.S., S. Korea Condemn N. Korean Troop Deployment to Russia

Washington, Oct. 26 (Jiji Press)–Senior security officials from Japan, the United States and South Korea met in Washington on Friday and expressed “grave concern” over North Korea’s troop deployment to Russia.

Takeo Akiba, secretary-general of Japan’s National Security Secretariat, U.S. National Security Adviser Jake Sullivan and Shin Won-sik, director of South Korea’s National Security Office, said in a joint statement that the deployment could expand the impact of Russia’s invasion of Ukraine to the Indo-Pacific region, and called for the move to be stopped.

They pointed out that North Korean troops sent to Russia may be used in Russia’s aggression against Ukraine, and criticized the troop deployment, along with North Korea’s transfer of weapons and ballistic missiles to Russia in violation of U.N. Security Council resolutions, as part of efforts to deepen military cooperation between North Korea and Russia.

In an online press briefing on the day, White House National Security Communications Advisor John Kirby said that some of the North Korean troops may be deployed around Kursk in western Russia, though he added that the capabilities and objectives of the troops are unknown.

The three national security officials also reaffirmed the importance of peace and stability in the Taiwan Strait, where China is repeating military intimidation, and agreed to hold a trilateral summit at an early date.

[Copyright The Jiji Press, Ltd.]