North Korea slams South Korea-US-Japan talks on Indo-Pacific as 'insult' to peace

Seoul (The Uttam Hindu): North Korea on Saturday lambasted a recent trilateral meeting between South Korea, the US and Japan that discussed peace in the Indo-Pacific region, deriding the talks as an "insult" to peace.

North Korea's main newspaper, criticised the trilateral Indo-Pacific Dialogue that took place in Tokyo on December 11, accusing Washington of being a "gangster-like" country destroying peace and its Asian allies of being accomplices. "The United States' history itself is one of war all around the world and its foreign policy is consistent with the evil of invading other countries and bringing destruction to peace and safety," Yonhap news agency reported, quoting the Roddong Sinmun.

The paper rejected Japan as a country seeking peace, citing its guidelines for defence cooperation with the US and its security law that allows collective self-defence. It also labelled South Korea as being the "vanguard of US policies of invasion and war." "The United States is an empire of evil and a gangster-like country destroying peace," it said. "Japan and puppet South Korea are accomplices no less guilty."

During this month's talks, the three countries acknowledged the need to explore ways to collectively contribute to peace and prosperity in the Indo-Pacific region, according to Seoul's foreign ministry. The meeting marked the second of its kind after its inaugural session in January. The talks took place as South Korea, the US and Japan sought to deepen trilateral security cooperation amid evolving North Korean nuclear and missile threats.