In a joint declaration this week, NATO leaders condemned North Korea for “fuelling Russia’s war of aggression against Ukraine”, by “providing direct military support” to Moscow.
NATO leaders also voiced “profound concern” over China’s industrial support to Russia.
Pyongyang has repeatedly denied allegations that it is shipping weapons to Moscow, but in June leader Kim Jong Un and Russia’s President Vladimir Putin signed an agreement that included a pledge to come to each other’s military aid if attacked.
Pyongyang’s Korean Central News Agency reported Saturday that the foreign ministry “most strongly denounces and rejects” the NATO declaration.
Kremlin says will follow NATO summit closely
Citing a ministry spokesman, the agency said the declaration “incites new Cold War and military confrontation on a global scale”, and requires “a new force and mode of counteraction”.
On the sidelines of the NATO summit, Seoul and Washington this week also signed guidelines on an integrated system of deterrence for the Korean peninsula to counter North Korea’s nuclear and military threats.
South Korea’s presidential office said Seoul and Washington will carry out joint military drills to help implement the newly announced guidelines, which formalise the deployment of US nuclear assets on and around the Korean peninsula to deter and respond to potential nuclear attacks by Pyongyang.
Relations between the two Koreas are at one of their lowest points in years, with Pyongyang ramping up weapons testing as it draws closer to Russia.
After Pyongyang sent multiple barrages of trash-carrying balloons across the border, Seoul last month fully suspended a tension-reducing military deal and resumed live-fire drills on border islands and by the demilitarised zone that divides the Korean peninsula.
The NATO summit in Washington’s planned statement is full of “belligerent rhetoric” and the China-related content has provocations and lies, a spokesperson for the Chinese mission to the European Union said.
The draft communique said China has become a decisive enabler of Russia’s war effort in Ukraine and Beijing continues to pose systemic challenges to Europe and to security.
“As we all know, China is not the creator of the crisis in Ukraine,” the spokesperson said, according to a statement released by the Chinese Mission to the EU on Thursday.
“The declaration of the NATO summit in Washington is full of Cold War mentality and belligerent rhetoric, and China-related content is full of provocations, lies, incitement and smears,” the spokesperson said in response to a reporter’s question.
Leaders of NATO countries stressed a membership pledge for Ukraine, took a stronger stance on China’s support for Russia, and the declaration strengthened past NATO language on China.
“China’s core position on the Ukraine issue is to promote peace talks and political settlement, which has been widely recognized and appreciated by the international community,” said the spokesperson.
Beijing put forward a 12-point paper more than a year ago that set out general principles for ending the war, but did not get into specifics.
It received a lukewarm reception at the time in both Russia and Ukraine.
For its part, China has repeatedly lashed out at NATO criticisms and has warned against its expansion into the Asia-Pacific region. Leaders of Japan, South Korea, New Zealand and Australia, in attendance at NATO, have forged stronger ties with the security alliance amid rising concerns over China’s aggressions in the South China Sea.
On Wednesday, a spokesperson for China’s foreign ministry said: “We firmly oppose NATO acting beyond its characterization as a regional defensive alliance, inserting itself into the Asia-Pacific to incite confrontation and rivalry, and disrupting the prosperity and stability in this region.”
