North Korea slams Kishida’s visit to Germany as ‘collusion’ of countries that committed war crimes

Seoul, July 15 (IANS) North Korea, on Monday, denounced Japanese Prime Minister Fumio Kishida’s recent visit to Germany aimed at boosting security cooperation in the Indo-Pacific region, calling it military collusion between two countries that committed war crimes, according to the North’s state media.Fumio Kishida met German Chancellor Olaf Scholz in Berlin on Saturday, and the two countries signed an agreement on simplifying the process of sharing food, fuel and ammunition between Japan’s Self-Defence Forces and the German military, reports Yonhap news agency.North Korea said Japan and Germany, two countries that were defeated in World War II, “colluded” to engage in war exercises that have escalated regional tensions, according to the Korean Central News Agency.North Korea further claimed that Japan is betting its survival on strengthening military ties with the North Atlantic Treaty Organisation (NATO), apparently due to its fears of shrinking global power by the United States.North Korea has denounced NATO’s move to expand cooperation with countries in the Indo-Pacific region, such as South Korea and Japan, amid Russia’s prolonged war in Ukraine and burgeoning ties between North Korea and Russia.Pyongyang has also accused the US, South Korea and Japan’s move to strengthen security cooperation of being an attempt to establish the Asian version of NATO.On Saturday, North Korea bristled at the NATO summit declaration that condemned its weapons exports to Russia, casting it as an “illegal” document and warning of strong “strategic counteraction.”–IANSint/rs/kvd