TOKYO: With world leaders gathering in Hiroshima for the G7 Summit, Japan, South Korea and the United States conferring on security in the region, and the United States and its allies carrying out military exercises, North Korea’s Central News Agency (KCNA) was quick to comment and warn that the region should not be the venue for a proxy war.

Commentator Lee Jong-Soo wrote: “The mad winds of the ‘New Cold War’ that the United States has blown are changing the mild atmosphere in Southeast Asia.”

Lee noted that more than 12,000 U.S. military personnel and other armed forces were mobilized in the Philippines for military exercises in April. These exercises included the first-ever live-fire drill in the South China Sea, which, he suggested, was creating a “new alliance zone” in the region.

“Military cooperation between nations should be welcomed if the purpose is to promote peace and stability in the countries and regions concerned, but the United States pursues other purposes,” Lee wrote. “In creating and maintaining a unipolar world that acts as both a military policeman and a judge, it has always pushed other countries to play a leading role in proxy wars. We do not want Southeast Asia or any other part of the world to become a proxy war arena for the United States.”

Kang Jin-sung, a commentator on international affairs, criticized talks between the United States, Japan, and South Korea: “In recent years, the United States has been sparing no investment in establishing a trilateral military alliance between the United States, Japan and South Korea, an ‘Asian version of NATO,’ in Northeast Asia.” Kang suggests this will lead to “a mutual nuclear assistance alliance.”

Meanwhile, Park Myung-chul expressed his anger at the EU’s presence in Hiroshima as observers.

“Today’s EU does not have any independent thinking or creed, and it only strengthens the recognition that it is an enthusiastic observer that only likes to imitate other countries,” he said. “Just as we are accustomed to the current situation of the EU, which is increasingly divided and increasingly dependent on the United States, it would be better for the EU to become accustomed to our status as a nuclear power state.”

“The behavior of the EU shows their hypocritical identity and pitiful circumstances. The EU, which caused a security crisis due to the outbreak of the Ukrainian situation, desperately tried to draw military support for Ukraine and finally became a complete slave to the United States militarily.”