South Korea, Japan, Australia, and New Zealand adopted a joint statement denouncing the deepening military ties between Russia and North Korea and agreed to step up cooperation during their summit in Washington on Thursday. President Yoon Suk Yeol attended the meeting with his counterparts from the North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO)'s Indo-Pacific partners, collectively known as IP4, for the third consecutive year. U.S. President Joe Biden met the leaders and welcomed the Indo-Pacific partners' support for Ukraine and contributions to global security, the White House said. The IP4 gathering came amid growing concerns about a deepening military alignment between North Korea and Russia, which was highlighted by the two sides' signing of a "comprehensive strategic partnership" agreement during their summit in Pyongyang last month. "New Zealand, Japan, the Republic of Korea, and Australia strongly condemn the illicit military cooperation between the Russian Federation and the DPRK, which undermines p eace and stability in both the Indo-Pacific and European region," the statement said. ROK and DPRK stand for the official names of South Korea and North Korea, the Republic of Korea and the Democratic People's Republic of Korea, respectively. The leaders expressed "grave concern" over the mutual defense pact between Moscow and Pyongyang, calling it a violation of U.N. Security Council resolutions that ban arms transfers to North Korea. "New Zealand, Japan, the Republic of Korea, and Australia urge the Russian Federation and the DPRK to abide by the relevant U.N. Security Council resolutions and immediately cease all such activities that violate these resolutions," it said. In the third year of the IP4's attendance at the NATO summit, the nations agreed to push for "flagship projects" focused on four areas: support to Ukraine; cyber defense; exchanging information on the challenges posted by disinformation; and artificial intelligence. The White House said U.S. Secretary Anthony Blinken will push to have a meeting with the top diplomats of South Korea, Australia, Japan and New Zealand later this year to advance further cooperation among the nations. In an interview with Yonhap News Agency Wednesday, Deputy Secretary of State Kurt Campbell said the U.S. wants to "institutionalize" the grouping of the NATO Indo-Pacific partners to address shared concerns. Source: Yonhap News Agency