The chief of the North Atlantic Treaty Organization(NATO) has invited leaders of South Korea and three other nations in the Indo-Pacific region to the NATO summit set for July in Washington D.C. 

NATO Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg said on Wednesday that the leaders of South Korea, New Zealand, Australia and Japan — the non-NATO partners in the Indo-Pacific region — were invited to the summit.

It’s the third time that the leaders of the four nations have been invited to the summit. 

In a meeting with NATO foreign ministers in Brussels, Stoltenberg said that North Korea and Iran are major suppliers of weapons and ammunition to Russia, which demonstrates that security in Asia is linked to Europe and that the Indo-Pacific region is important to NATO.

The NATO chief stressed that like-minded nations around the world should work together to defend a global order ruled by law, not by force, adding there is a lot to gain from substantial cooperation with the four Indo-Pacific nations in technology, cyber and hybrid threats, as well as assistance to Ukraine.

South Korea was also invited to the NATO foreign ministers’ meeting for the third year as one of NATO's four Indo-Pacific partners, with foreign minister Cho Tae-yul attending the ministerial meeting in Belgium Wednesday and Thursday.