Foreign Minister Takeshi Iwaya made a surprise visit to Ukraine on Saturday, where he met with his counterpart, conveying Japan’s continued support for Kyiv and criticized North Korea’s dispatch of troops for Russia’s war against its neighbor, according to the Foreign Ministry in Tokyo.
Iwaya’s unannounced trip comes amid growing fears about the conflict’s expansion, with the top Japanese diplomat calling the security of Europe and the Indo-Pacific “inseparable.”
The foreign minister, who took up his post last month, conveyed “serious concerns” to Ukrainian Foreign Minister Andrii Sybiha about the growing military cooperation between Russia and North Korea, including Pyongyang’s decision to deploy more than 10,000 troops to Russia for combat operations against Ukrainian forces, the Foreign Ministry said.
