Pyongyang has condemned joint military exercises between South Korea, Japan and the US that took place this week , and defined them as a sign that the three countries have developed their relations in a way that turns them into an "Asian version of NATO", reported Reuters, quoted by BTA.
Allied armies on Thursday began the three-day Freedom Edge exercise, which aims to strengthen defense capabilities against missile and submarine attacks. Destroyers and fighters, as well as the American nuclear aircraft carrier "Theodore Roosevelt", took part in the maneuvers.
The decision on the exercise was made last year at a trilateral summit in Camp David, Maryland, where the leaders of the US, Japan and South Korea agreed to boost their military cooperation amid Pyongyang-created tensions on the Korean Peninsula, notes Reuters.
North Korea will not ignore the strengthening of a military bloc led by the US and its allies, and will protect peace in the region with an aggressive and crushing response, the foreign ministry in Pyongyang said in a statement carried by North Korea's KCTA news agency. The text states that Washington continues its efforts to tie Seoul and Tokyo to NATO, and that South Korea's attempts to supply weapons to Ukraine are an example of this.
Seoul said it would consider sending military equipment directly to Ukraine in protest of the bilateral security agreement reached by North Korean leader Kim Jong-un and Russian President Vladimir Putin, Reuters reports.
Washington and Seoul accuse Pyongyang of supplying weapons to Russia, which it uses in its war in Ukraine. Both Russia and North Korea deny this.