South Korea, US and Japan stage air drill as Russia’s Lavrov heads to North Korea
The three countries’ top military chiefs also held an annual meeting in Seoul on Friday
Top South Korean, US and Japanese military officers urged North Korea to cease all unlawful activities that threaten regional security, as the three nations flew advanced warplanes for a joint exercise in a show of force against the North.
The development came Friday as Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov was to travel to North Korea amid booming military and other cooperation between the two countries that have raised concerns among their neighbours.
During their regular meeting in Seoul on Friday, the chairmen of the joint chiefs of staff from South Korea, the US and Japan discussed North Korea’s deployment of troops to Russia to support its war against Ukraine and Russia’s potential transfer of military technology to North Korea in return.
“They urged the DPRK to immediately cease all unlawful activities to destabilise the Korean peninsula, the Indo-Pacific, and beyond, and pledged to continue working together to respond to the DPRK’s threats,” the three top military officers said in a joint statement.
DPRK stands for the Democratic People’s Republic of Korea, North Korea’s formal name.
North Korea and Russia have grown sharply closer in recent years, with North Korea supplying thousands of troops and ammunition to Russia in return for economic and military assistance.
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South Korea suspends propaganda loudspeaker broadcasts along border to North Korea