North Korean leader Kim Jong Un, Chinese President Xi Jinping, and Russian President Vladimir Putin stood side by side at a Chinese military parade last Wednesday
NATO’s military chief said the recent display of unity among North Korean, Russian, and Chinese leaders was merely a "show" that doesn't constitute a military alliance, according to the Yonhap news agency.
Comments from Giuseppe Cavo Dragone came after North Korean leader Kim Jong Un, Chinese President Xi Jinping, and Russian President Vladimir Putin stood side by side at a Chinese military parade last Wednesday.
"It's not a military threat, because they don't have anything in common. They don't have standardization. They don't have interoperability. They don't have the same tactics," Cavo Dragone told the news agency on Tuesday, on the sidelines of the Seoul Defense Dialogue, an annual multilateral security forum that began on Monday.
"They cannot fight together the way NATO does after 75 years of training," he added.
"It's a show, a show of flags, but nothing more than that... It is not an operational entity," he said, though he acknowledged the three countries could gain economic and diplomatic benefits from their ties.
Cavo Dragone also emphasized the growing security links between NATO and the Indo-Pacific, calling interconnectivity essential in the current global security landscape. He urged joint, consistent international efforts to respond to threats like North Korea's nuclear and missile development.
Asked about the possibility of complete denuclearization of the Korean Peninsula, he responded skeptically: "I don't know if denuclearization is possible." Instead, he advocated for increased sanctions and isolation of North Korea, urging Russia and China to recognize the potential future impact on them.
"We have to make it clear that the only way to reduce, and eventually stop, it is through international pressure until democracy breaks out of North Korea too," he added.
