The impact of the burgeoning military relationship between North Korea and Russia has heightened security concerns for South Korea and Japan, a reality on full display as the two U.S. allies pushed to foster ties with NATO this week.

ROK President Yoon Suk-yeol and Japanese Prime Minister Fumio Kishida both attended the NATO summit in Washington from Wednesday to Thursday, and they were joined by the security alliance and NATO’s other Indo-Pacific Partners — Australia and New Zealand — in stressing that security in Europe and Asia are connected, while condemning Pyongyang and Moscow’s new mutual defense pact. 

While NATO’s