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Jens Stoltenberg, the secretary-general of NATO (from the NATO website)

Successive meetings are scheduled for the foreign ministers of North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO) member states and G7 countries on Thursday in Brussels, where they are visiting to discuss sanctions against Russia and support for Ukraine.

Discussions on massacres of Ukrainian civilians by Russian troops are also expected to take place, with this marking the first time South Korea and Japan will take part in a NATO meeting.

The South Korean Ministry of Foreign Affairs announced Tuesday that Foreign Minister Chung Eui-yong would be attending a joint meeting of NATO and partner nations’ foreign ministers scheduled for Thursday.

Chung is scheduled to speak about the situation in Ukraine, the South Korea-NATO partnership, and Korean Peninsula issues. He is to be the first-ever South Korean Minister of Foreign Affairs to attend a meeting of NATO foreign ministers.

The Japanese Ministry of Foreign Affairs also issued materials the same day stating that Minister Yoshimasa Hayashi would be attending meetings of the G7 and NATO foreign ministers on Thursday.

“This is the first time a Japanese Minister of Foreign Affairs will be attending a NATO meeting,” the ministry noted.

“The security of Europe and the Indo-Pacific region cannot be discussed separately,” the ministry stated, adding that Hayashi would be “confirming not only the response with NATO to the Ukraine situation but also stronger cooperation toward achieving a ‘free and open Indo-Pacific.’”

In addition to NATO’s 30 member countries, the meeting is also to be attended by representatives of four partner countries in the Asia-Pacific region (South Korea, Japan, Australia, and New Zealand), Ukraine, Sweden, Finland, Georgia, and the European Union.

The NATO and G7 foreign ministers’ meetings are expected to also include discussions on massacres of Ukrainian civilians by Russian troops, which has recently become a focus of controversy.

Germany, France, and other European countries have stated the position that additional sanctions should be imposed against Russia in connection with the massacre of civilians in the Ukrainian city of Bucha. The US is also reportedly weighing whether to impose additional sanctions.

On Sunday, the Washington Post reported that US administration officials had “discussed intensifying their sanctions campaign against Russia” amid the international condemnation of civilian massacres.

By Kim So-youn, Tokyo correspondent

Please direct questions or comments to [english@hani.co.kr]