Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov used a visit to the North Korean resort city of Wonsan on 12 July to warn the United States, South Korea and Japan against turning their expanding defence cooperation into a formal security alliance aimed at Pyongyang. “We caution against building alliances directed against anyone, including North Korea and, of course, Russia,” Lavrov told reporters after talks with North Korean Foreign Minister Choe Son-hui. Lavrov said Moscow ‘respects’ North Korea’s pursuit of nuclear weapons, describing it as a deterrent to what he called growing military buildups by Washington and its allies. His comments followed a 11 July joint air drill near the Korean Peninsula that featured U.S. nuclear-capable bombers and the first in-person meeting this year of the three countries’ top military officers in Seoul. The trip underscores rapidly deepening ties between Moscow and Pyongyang, which already supplies troops and munitions for Russia’s campaign in Ukraine. North Korea reiterated its “unconditional” support for Russia’s war aims, while Lavrov and his hosts pledged to safeguard each other’s territorial integrity and resist what they described as attempts to turn Eurasia into a ‘NATO fiefdom.’ Western officials fear the partnership could involve transfers of sensitive technology that would strengthen North Korea’s missile and nuclear programmes.