KYIV -- Visiting Japanese Foreign Minister Takeshi Iwaya said in Ukraine on November 16 that Tokyo and Kyiv have committed to increased dialogue between their respective defense and foreign ministers on security issues in light of the "extremely alarming situation" around the recent deployment of North Korean troops to Russia as Moscow's full-scale invasion of Ukraine continues.
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Iwaya warned at a joint briefing alongside Ukrainian Foreign Minister Andriy Sybiha in Kyiv that North Korean troops joining the 2 1/2-year-old Russian war effort could have "extremely significant implications" for Asia as well.
He met later with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskiy.
Zelenskiy said he discussed with Iwaya "that now North Korea has become an accomplice of Russia and is helping Putin in this criminal war." He said they discussed "all threats from cooperation between Pyongyang and Moscow."
With estimates of Russian casualties exceeding 600,000 and President Vladimir Putin desperate to avoid a politically unpopular second mobilization, reports suggest more than 11,000 North Korean soldiers are in southwestern Russia.
In Kyiv, Iwaya expressed "deep concern" and strong condemnation of the deployment.
He said the Japanese and Ukrainian sides would maintain a "bilateral high-level security policy dialogue" going forward, including the sharing of intelligence.
Iwaya arrived hours earlier and visited a memorial to the victims of Russian occupation in the city of Bucha, where Ukrainian and international prosecutors have alleged widespread atrocities against civilians by Russian troops.
Ukrainian military intelligence said the first North Korean troops arrived in the southwestern Russian region of Kursk on October 23.
Subsequent reports said the first clashes between North Korean soldiers and Ukrainian forces took place on November 5 in Kursk, where Ukraine launched a surprise incursion in August and now controls hundreds of square kilometers of territory.
Sybiha called the appearance of North Korean troops "evidence that the future of not only the European but also the global security architecture is being decided in Ukraine."
He cited shared values with Japan and said Iwaya's visit was an "important sign of solidarity, especially in such a difficult time."