US Secretary of State Antony Blinken said on Thursday (9) that he shares South Korean concerns about growing military cooperation between North Korea and Russia, which he called a “two-way street”. involving flows of weapons and technical support.
Blinken and South Korean Foreign Minister Park Jin also said they discussed the so-called extended deterrence strategy to counter threats from North Korea, which means using U.S. military resources, including its nuclear forces, to protect against attacks.
“We have real concerns about any support for North Korea’s ballistic missile programs, its nuclear technology and its space launch capability,” Blinken said at a news conference in the South Korean capital. “We are working to…identify, expose and, as necessary, combat these efforts.”
Blinken’s two-day visit to South Korea is his first in two and a half years and is part of a broader trip to Asia that included a visit to Japan and a stop in India.
He headed to Asia from the Middle East, where the conflict in Gaza has combined with the war in Ukraine to overshadow Washington’s efforts to focus on the Indo-Pacific region.
North Korean weapons have reportedly been used in Gaza, and the United States and its allies have condemned what they say is the flow of weapons and military equipment from North Korea to Russia for use in Ukraine.
North Korea and Russia have denied any arms deal, although their leaders pledged closer military cooperation when they met in September in Russia’s far east.
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Source: CNN Brasil
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