U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken and South Korean Foreign Minister Park Jin shared their concern about North Korea and Russia's strengthening military ties during talks Thursday in Seoul.
"We are seeing the DPRK provide military equipment to Russia for pursuing its aggression against Ukraine. But we are also seeing Russia provide technology and support to the DPRK for its own military programs," Blinken said at a joint news conference after the talks, referring to North Korea by its formal name, the Democratic People's Republic of Korea.
"And that's a real concern for the security of the Korean Peninsula," as well as nuclear non-proliferation around the world, he said.
Park said the United States, South Korea and Japan need to further enhance trilateral cooperation to cope with the threat posed by North Korea's nuclear and missile development programs.
"I think it's very important that we share real-time data on North Korean ballistic missiles," Park said about an information-sharing system which the three nations aim to get operational by the end of this year.
Blinken's visit to South Korea, the first by a U.S. secretary of state in two-and-a-half years, came amid deepening military ties between North Korea and Russia, with the leaders of the two countries having met in September in Russia's Far East where they vowed to further strengthen bilateral strategic cooperation.
The United States said last month that North Korea delivered more than 1,000 containers of military equipment and munitions to Russia between Sept. 7 and Oct. 1.
North Korea is presumed to be in the final stages of preparation for another military spy satellite launch, having failed on two attempts to put one into orbit in May and August, a South Korean lawmaker said earlier this month, citing the nation's spy agency.
Earlier Thursday, Blinken talked with South Korean President Yoon Suk Yeol during a luncheon, where they agreed to continue bolstering the bilateral alliance between their countries.
The top U.S. diplomat also praised Yoon's leadership, saying it has led to "new progress" in South Korea-Japan relations, as well as trilaterally with the addition of the United States, after they soured for years over wartime issues, according to a South Korean government statement.
Prior to his visit to South Korea, Blinken attended a Group of Seven foreign ministers' gathering in Tokyo.
