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NATO Secretary-General Jen Stoltenberg sits down for a discussion with Foreign Minister Park Jin of South Korea during the former’s visit to Seoul on Jan. 29. (courtesy of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs)

On Monday, North Korea criticized NATO Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg’s visits to South Korea and Japan as a “prelude to confrontation and war” that “brings the dark clouds of a ‘new Cold War’ to the Asia-Pacific region.”

North Korea’s state-run Korean Central News Agency (KCNA) made the assertion in an article early Monday morning titled “NATO Secretary General’s Trip Instigates Creation of Asian Version of NATO.”

While the article was notably published in the KCNA, one of North Korea’s three main media outlets, it was signed by “Kim Tong Myong, a researcher of the Society for International Politics Study.” That makes the article much less official than if it had been attributed to a high-ranking official or to the spokesperson of North Korea’s Foreign Ministry.

Kim said that Stoltenberg’s visit came as “the Ukrainian crisis has entered a new critical stage with the US and Western decision on supplying tanks,” while arguing that creating an Asian version of NATO is “the general orientation sought by the US-led NATO.”

“South Korea signed a huge sales contract for arms including heavy tanks, self-propelled guns and fighters valued at tens of billions of US dollars with Poland, a member state of NATO, and Japan agreed to jointly develop the next generation fighters with Britain and Italy,” Kim noted, concluding that this demonstrates “NATO's sinister intention to use South Korea and Japan for expanding its influence.”

Kim said that when South Korea and Japan seek to handle their affairs by “inviting unbidden guests to the region,” they “should be well aware that they are getting closer to [an] extreme security crisis,” rather than easing security fears.

Stoltenberg met with South Korean Minister of National Defense Lee Jong-sup and Foreign Minister Park Jin while visiting the country on Sunday and Monday.

By Lee Je-hun, senior staff writer

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