The leaders of the U.S., South Korea and Japan condemned North Korea’s deployment of troops to support Russia’s invasion of Ukraine on Friday, while laying the groundwork to continue trilateral efforts to deter DPRK threats under a new secretariat even after U.S. President-elect Donald Trump takes charge.

After talks on the sidelines of the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation (APEC) Leaders’ Meeting in Peru, U.S. President Joe Biden, ROK President Yoon Suk-yeol and Japanese Prime Minister Shigeru Ishiba issued a joint statement denouncing the DPRK’s troop dispatch as a violation of U.N. Security Council resolutions prohibiting military exchanges with Pyongyang.

“Japan, the