SEOUL, January 26. /TASS/. Seoul has to boost cooperation with the US and Japan in response to the rapprochement between Russia and North Korea, the Foreign Ministry of the Republic of Korea told TASS when asked to comment on Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov’s statement.

Lavrov said on January 24 that the US, Japan and South Korea are in the process of creating a military alliance, which is ramping up its military activities and conducting military exercises of unprecedented scale with the openly declared goal of preparing for a war with North Korea. The US-South Korean maneuvers are usually characterized similarly by North Korea.

"The strengthening of defense capabilities in response to North Korea’s threats and provocations is a natural measure to protect our population. The [longer] the military cooperation between Russia and North Korea lasts the stronger the necessity of cooperation in the security area between the Republic of Korea, the US and Japan will be," the press service of the Foreign Ministry of the Republic of Korea said. Russia’s Foreign Ministry has repeatedly refuted statements on illegal military-technical cooperation between Moscow and Pyongyang.