North Korea on Monday denounced Japan's recent opening of a new diplomatic mission to the North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO), accusing the country of dangerously escalating the military tension in the region.

In addition to the American and Japanese paratroopers, airborne troops from Australia, Canada, France, Germany, the Netherlands, Italy, Poland, Singapore, the Philippines, and the United Kingdom participated in the exercise.

Japan launched its NATO mission in Brussels, according to a statement Thursday by the Japanese Foreign Ministry.

Japan has formally inaugurated an independent mission to the NATO military alliance as Tokyo and NATO seek to bolster cooperation amid escalating tensions from Russia, China and North Korea, Euronews reports.

Type 03 Chu-SAM surface-to-air missiles are set to be deployed on Japan's westernmost island of Yonaguni, 110 kilometers (68 miles) from Taiwan. Yonaguni is part of Okinawa Prefecture and the first island chain, which stretches southward to the Philippines and which Washington considers key to hemming in Chinese forces in the event of a conflict.

The flight, which lasted for more than eight hours, saw the Russian aircraft being escorted by planes from other countries

Japanese Prime Minister Shigeru Ishiba and NATO Secretary General Mark Rutte agreed during a telephone conversation on Tuesday to strengthen cooperation among Indo-Pacific partners that also include Australia,

On January 21, commencing at 4:30 p.m. for approximately 15 minutes, Mr. ISHIBA Shigeru, Prime Minister of Japan, held a telephone talk with H.E. Mr. Mark RUTTE, Secretary General of the North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO). The overview of the talk is as follows.

Smith, A John E. Merow senior fellow for Asia-Pacific studies at the Council on Foreign Relations, visited the University to speak in its Mansfield Dialogues through the Maureen and Mike

Rubio called China the "most potent, dangerous adversary" during his confirmation and is expected to work with India, Japan, and Australia to counter this.

The North's official Korean Central News Agency (KCNA) issued the criticism in an article attributed to an international security analyst, following Japan's formal inauguration of an independent mission to NATO last week to bolster cooperation.

Indo-Pacific power Japan quietly opened a dedicated mission to the transatlantic military alliance last week. Tokyo’s prior relationships with NATO had been managed through its embassy in Brussels.