South Korean leader Yoon Suk Yeol has called for enhanced joint defense training with the United States in light of North Korea’s recent weapons developments.

“North Korea’s evolving nuclear and missile capabilities and continued provocations threaten security on the Korean Peninsula and in the region. A more robust combined defense posture is more important than ever,” Yun said on Tuesday during a visit to the Indo-Pacific Command of USA in Hawaii.

Yun, a staunch critic of Pyongyang, was the first South Korean president to visit the largest unified US military command since 1995, his office said, in line with his strong support for the Mutual Defense Treaty between Seoul and Washington.

North Korean leader Kim Jong Un has doubled down on ballistic weapons tests banned by multiple UN Security Council resolutions, and his recent closeness with Russian President Vladimir Putin has raised Western concerns about North Korea’s security implications in Europe .

North Korea’s “illegal arms deals with Russia” and Kim’s signing of a mutual defense pledge with Putin have heightened international concerns, Yun said, according to a news release prepared by his spokesman.

“Strong strength and solidarity among countries that share our values ​​are necessary to defend our freedom, democracy and economic prosperity from these reckless forces,” the South Korean president was quoted as saying.

Adm. Sam Paparo, commander of the US Indo-Pacific Command, said Yun had demonstrated “clear insight that the security of Ukraine and the security of the Indo-Pacific are intertwined,” Yun’s office said.

Paparo also praised Yoon for promoting bilateral ties with Japan, another US ally, at the expense of political capital at home, the statement added.

South Korea hosts 28,500 US troops as part of US Forces Korea, while US forces in Japan number 54,000 — the largest number of US military personnel anywhere in the world outside US soil.

Newsweek reached out to the US Department of Defense, the North Korean embassy in Beijing and the Russian Foreign Ministry for comment by email.

The US and South Korea have jointly accused Pyongyang of supplying ballistic missiles and millions of artillery shells to Russia for use in its invasion of Ukraine.

“I think we have made clear our great concern about the increased cooperation between the DPRK and Russia,” US State Department spokesman Matthew Miller said at a news conference on Monday, referring to the Democratic People’s Republic of Korea, the North’s official name.

“We have seen…the DPRK support Russia’s war machine that targets and kills innocent civilians in Ukraine and violates the territorial integrity and sovereignty of another United Nations member in violation of multiple United Nations Security Council resolutions, and we will continue to cooperate with our allies and partners to address this relationship,” Miller said.

While Kim is consolidating power among party loyalists at home, his neighbors believe he could have a destabilizing effect in Europe.

That’s the message South Korea’s Yun and Japanese Prime Minister Fumio Kishida intend to take to Washington, DC, on Wednesday when they attend NATO’s annual summit as representatives of the Indo-Pacific.

Separately this week, Pyongyang criticized the recently concluded Freedom Edge military exercise between the US, South Korea and Japan, as well as other US-led drills, as “an unwarranted and explicit provocation”.

Kim Yo Jong, sister of Kim Jong Un, said any act deemed to have violated North Korea’s sovereignty would be tantamount to a declaration of war, according to a statement carried Monday by the Korean Central News Agency.