North Korea Slams Seoul-Tokyo Military Ties as 'Self-Destruction'

North Korea has sharply condemned the expanding military partnership between South Korea and Japan, describing it through state media as a foolish act that courts self-destruction. The criticism underscores Pyongyang's persistent hostility toward what it views as a growing US-aligned defense bloc on its doorstep.

The rebuke came in a commentary by Kang Chol Su, a section chief at North Korea's Institute of Enemy State Studies, carried by the Korean Central News Agency. Kang warned that the security ties between Tokyo and Seoul had become increasingly open, saying they were endangering stability on the Korean Peninsula.

Kang pointed to several recent examples of cooperation, including a South Korean air force squadron refueling at a Japanese base earlier this year, a joint search-and-rescue drill held last month, and defense ministerial talks between the two neighbors. He argued the moves were paving the way toward a military logistics pact.

Such an agreement would allow the two militaries to exchange supplies and services, potentially including ammunition during a contingency. Japan has long pursued the arrangement, but Seoul has moved cautiously given lingering domestic sensitivities rooted in Japan's 1910-45 colonial rule of the Korean Peninsula.

Pyongyang has repeatedly targeted the government of Japanese Prime Minister Sanae Takaichi, a conservative who took office earlier this year, over efforts to bolster the country's military and widen its regional security role. North Korean outlets have branded Japan a war criminal state seeking to rebuild as a military power.

Kang framed the cooperation among Japan, South Korea and the United States as part of a broader effort to construct a triangular system aimed at containing the North. He said the developments reinforced Pyongyang's conviction that building up its nuclear forces remains the only way to counter an unpredictable security environment.

The commentary followed a trilateral meeting of the top diplomats of the United States, South Korea and Japan, and echoed earlier North Korean denunciations of joint drills involving American and Japanese forces.