Pyongyang, May 15 (KCNA) -- Kim Sol Hwa, researcher of the Institute for Japan Studies of the DPRK Foreign Ministry, issued the following article titled "What is final aim of Japan's Military Collusion with NATO" on May 14:

The unprecedented military nexus between Japan and NATO has recently aroused great concern and vigilance of the international community.

A typical example is that Japan is planning to open the NATO liaison office in Japan for the first time in Asia.

Recently, Japanese Foreign Minister Hayashi officially announced that establishment of the NATO liaison office in Tokyo is under discussion, saying that Russia's "invasion" of Ukraine has direct impact not only on eastern Europe but also on the situation in the Asia-Pacific region, and that the present situation requires Japan to reconsider the regional security and, therefore, cooperation with NATO is more important in East Asia.

Matsuno, chief Cabinet secretary, said that NATO is an inevitable companion to be trusted and he is going to boost cooperation for the realization of the "free and open Indo-Pacific".

It is well known that Japan has long sought military collusion with NATO and is more zealously clinging to it with the Ukrainian incident as an occasion.

Japanese Prime Minister Kishida, who attended the NATO Summit held in Madrid, Spain for the first time last June, vowed to raise relations with NATO to a new level, talking about "historical significance".

Against this backdrop, the secretary general of NATO made public so-called "Japan-NATO joint statement," the keynote of which is to strengthen military cohesion, at the end of the talks with Japanese high-ranking officials during his visit to Japan in January this year.

Japan openly revealed its intention to build an independent governmental mission in NATO and regularly attend NATO-sponsored meetings, including the North Atlantic Council meeting, and expand the scope of security cooperation with NATO into outer space and cyberspace.

Japan is now stepping up the consultation for drafting the "individual tailored partnership plan" that stipulates security cooperation with NATO, etc., and is going to complete it before the NATO summit to be held in July.

All facts go to clearly prove that NATO's attempt to advance into the Asia-Pacific region through its military nexus with Japan has entered a dangerous phase of implementation.

What should not be overlooked is the fact that the black-hearted design of the U.S. to hold its hegemonic position in the Asia-Pacific region by fabricating "Asian-version NATO" lurks behind the worrisome Japan-NATO cohesion.

It is an open secret that the U.S., which established NATO, an exclusive military alliance under the pretext of "defending" the Western countries from "communist aggression" after the end of the Second World War, has worked overtly and covertly to create such a military bloc in the Asia-Pacific region, too.

The U.S., hell-bent on pursuing hegemony, is now working harder than ever before, for its position in the Asia-Pacific region being shaken to a great extent in recent years.

This is clearly evidenced by the fact that the U.S. seeks to turn all sorts of confrontational alliances into NATO-based ones by establishing AUKUS and expanding the "five eyes" after transforming QUAD into an anti-China security cooperation system.

Occasioned by the outbreak of the Ukrainian crisis, the U.S. is craftily moving to turn NATO into a global military alliance by encouraging the collusion and nexus between its junior allies and NATO member states, talking about the security correlation between the both sides of the Atlantic and the Asia-Pacific region.

It is the sinister intention of the U.S. to lay huge siege to China and Russia by inveigling Japan, south Korea and other vassal forces into such typical confrontational blocs for exclusive security cooperation as AUKUS and QUAD and linking them with NATO.

It is the ulterior intention of Japan to outpace the neighboring countries and turn itself into a military giant even with the backing of the U.S. and by inviting an unbidden guest called NATO.

Whenever an opportunity presents itself, Japan is loudly saying "today's Ukraine is tomorrow's East Asia" and "contingency of Taiwan is one of Japan". This is prompted by its sinister intention to justify the NATO's military intervention in the region at any cost.

Countries in the region and the international community have long seen through Japan's intention to rid itself of the "shackles" of the U.S. through military nexus with NATO and free itself from the bondage of the "Pacifist Constitution."

Japan is clearly mistaken.

Present Asia-Pacific is not the one in the past when the Japanese imperialists were pursuing their unrealistic greed for building the "Greater East Asia Co-Prosperity Sphere."

Japan's tightened military collusion and nexus with NATO, a pronoun of war and confrontation, will only disturb regional peace and stability and invite instability and irreversible isolation of the archipelago.

Japan should bear in mind that its military nexus with outsiders and moves for building a military giant will only lead it to the second ruin. -0-

www.kcna.kp (Juche112.5.15.)