Defence chiefs of US, Australia, Japan decry N. Korea-Russia military cooperation

Washington, May 4 (IANS) The defence chiefs of the US, Australia, and Japan denounced growing military cooperation between North Korea and Russia, including their weapons transactions, during their trilateral talks in Hawaii this week.

US Secretary of Defence Lloyd Austin and his Australian and Japanese counterparts, Richard Marles and Minoru Kihara, held the meeting on Thursday to discuss a range of regional and global issues, including North Korea, Russia's war in Ukraine, the South China Sea and the Taiwan Strait, Yonhap news agency reported.

"The ministers strongly condemn the increasing military cooperation between North Korea and Russia, including North Korea's export and Russia's procurement of North Korean ballistic missiles in violation of UNSC resolutions, as well as Russia's use of these missiles against Ukraine," the statement read.

Austin, Marles and Kihara also expressed concerns over Pyongyang's unceasing weapon developments.

"The ministers are deeply concerned about North Korea's nuclear and missile development," it said.

"They strongly condemn North Korea's repeated launches of missiles, including intercontinental ballistic missiles and other launches using ballistic missile technology, which are serious violations of UNSC resolutions."

In addition, they reiterated their commitment to working with the international community to address Pyongyang's "serious" threat to the region.

They renewed their call on North Korea to "immediately" resolve the abductions issue and cease its human rights violations.

On China, the defence chiefs stressed their "strong" opposition to any attempts by Beijing to "unilaterally change the status quo by force or coercion in the South and East China Seas."

"This includes concerning and destabilising actions in the South China Sea, such as unsafe encounters at sea and in the air, the militarisation of disputed features, and the dangerous use of coast guard vessels and maritime militia...and efforts to disrupt other countries' offshore resource exploration," the statement read.

Moreover, they emphasised the importance of peace and stability across the Taiwan Strait while calling for the peaceful resolution of cross-Strait issues.