The top security officials from South Korea and the U.S. have discussed developments related to North Korea, including its increasing military cooperation with Russia and recent provocations along the Demilitarized Zone.

According to the White House, South Korea's National Security Office director Chang Ho-jin and U.S. National Security Advisor Jake Sullivan held such discussions over the phone on Tuesday.

Seoul's presidential office said the two officials "condemned in the strongest possible terms" Pyongyang's transfer of ballistic missiles to Moscow and their use against Ukraine as a violation of multiple UN Security Council resolutions that further raise the suffering of the Ukrainian people.

They said the transfer and use of such weapons "undermines the global nonproliferation regime and has significant security implications for Europe, the Korean Peninsula, and the Indo-Pacific region."

In the wake of deepening cooperation between Pyongyang and Moscow, the officials also exchanged assessments on the North's recent series of artillery attacks near the western inter-Korean maritime border.

They vowed to "maintain close collaboration on shared security challenges to bolster peace and security across the Indo-Pacific region and around the globe."

[Photo : YONHAP News]