North Korea criticizes Kishida’s visit to Germany as “collusion” with war criminals

German Chancellor Olaf Scholz (right) shakes hands with Japanese Prime Minister Fumio Kishida after their joint press conference at the Chancellery in Berlin on July 12. AFP-Yonhap

North Korea on Monday condemned Japanese Prime Minister Fumio Kishida’s recent visit to Germany aimed at strengthening security cooperation in the Indo-Pacific region, calling it military cooperation between two countries that had committed war crimes, according to the North’s state media.

On Saturday, Kishida met with German Chancellor Olaf Scholz in Berlin and the two countries signed an agreement to facilitate the sharing of food, fuel and ammunition between the Japanese Self-Defense Forces and the German army.

North Korea said the two countries defeated in World War II, Japan and Germany, had “agreed” to participate in war exercises that had led to an escalation of regional tensions, the Korean Central News Agency reported.

North Korea further claimed that Japan was staking its survival on strengthening its military ties with the North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO), apparently out of fear of a shrinking US global power.

North Korea has condemned NATO’s efforts to expand cooperation with countries in the Indo-Pacific region such as South Korea and Japan amid Russia’s ongoing war in Ukraine and growing relations between North Korea and Russia.

Pyongyang also accused the United States, South Korea and Japan of efforts to strengthen their security cooperation as an attempt to establish an Asian version of NATO.

On Saturday, North Korea reacted angrily to the NATO summit statement condemning its arms exports to Russia, calling it an “illegal” document and threatening strong “strategic countermeasures.” (Yonhap)