TOKYO: During talks held in Tokyo, G7 foreign ministers “strongly condemned” North Korean arms transfers to Russia, Japan reported on Wednesday. Japan’s foreign ministry stated, “The G7 Foreign Ministers strongly condemned North Korea’s repeated ballistic missile launches as well as arms transfers from North Korea to Russia, which directly violate relevant UN Security Council resolutions.”

Recently, North Korea supplied Russia with more than one million artillery rounds for its involvement in the conflict with Ukraine. In exchange, Pyongyang seems to have received advice on satellite technology, as disclosed by a South Korean lawmaker earlier this month, citing information from Seoul’s spy agency.

Notably, Kim Jong Un and Vladimir Putin, the leaders of North Korea and Russia, respectively, convened for a summit in Russia’s far east in September. Following this summit, the United States asserted that Pyongyang had initiated the provision of weaponry to Moscow.

In addition to addressing North Korean arms transfers, the G7 meetings included discussions on how to best engage with an increasingly assertive China. Japan emphasized that the foreign ministers “reaffirmed once again that they recognize the importance of engaging candidly with and expressing our concerns directly to China, acknowledging the need to work together with China on global challenges as well as areas of common interest.