WASHINGTON, A U.S. diplomat highlighted the need Wednesday to employ "all tools available" to fend off potential aggression by North Korea and Russia as she voiced concerns over growing military cooperation between the two countries. Camille Dawson, deputy assistant secretary of state for East Asian and Pacific affairs, made the remarks as Pyongyang and Moscow have deepened their security partnership as seen in the former's supplies of ballistic missiles and munitions to the latter for use in Ukraine. "We are concerned about what appears to be a growing alignment between the DPRK and Russia," she said during a press briefing marking the second anniversary of the release of the U.S.' Indo-Pacific Strategy. DPRK is short for the North's official name, the Democratic People's Republic of Korea. "We, along with our like-minded partners Express express our concern about that. We believe that like-minded countries need to come together to use all tools available to deter any kind of aggression or propagation alo ng those lines," she added. Responding to a question over the idea of adding Taiwan in U.S.-led regional cooperation groupings, Dawson pointed out that the U.S. encourages Indo-Pacific countries' engagement with Taiwan. "We see (Taiwan) as a democratic, like-minded and very capable partner, and we encourage countries to expand their engagement with Taiwan and to enable Taiwan's involvement in the international space," she said. Source: Yonhap News Agency