N Korea slams S Korea-Japan Summit as leading 'military collusion'

SEOUL, South Korea - North Korea condemned this week's summit between South Korean President Yoon Suk Yeol and Japanese Prime Minister Fumio Kishida through its propaganda outlet Wednesday, saying it has paved the way for a "military collusion" between the two countries.

Yoon and Kishida met in Seoul on Sunday in what marked a full resumption of "shuttle diplomacy," or regular two-way visits between the neighbours' leaders, after years of frayed relations over rows stemming from Japan's 1910-45 colonial rule, including the issue of forced labour, reported Yonhap news agency.

In the North's first response to the summit, propaganda website Uriminzokkiri said "the military collusion between South Korea and Japan, much wanted by the United States, has entered the stage for it to be recklessly carried out."

The website also apparently criticised Yoon's remarks Sunday suggesting Japan could participate in the Washington Declaration, a Seoul-Washington agreement aimed at strengthening the US extended deterrence commitment.

Uriminzokkiri claimed Yoon's "submissive" foreign policy has facilitated Japan to cover up its past atrocities, and become much bolder in terms of its sovereignty claim over the South's easternmost islets of Dokdo and Tokyo's plan to release contaminated water from the Fukushima nuclear power plant. - BERNAMA-YONHAP