South Korean President Yoon Suk-yeol stressed that closer ties with Japan will deter North Korean invasion on Tuesday, in a speech to mark the anniversary of Korea’s liberation from Japanese colonial rule.

In his live-streamed remarks, Yoon emphasized that Seoul and Tokyo share “universal values” based on liberal democracy, while framing not only the DPRK but his political opponents as “anti-state forces that blindly follow communist totalitarianism.”