North Korea has issued a threat to the United States, claiming it will “counter the enemies’ strategic threat with our strategic means.”
On Friday, the chief of the Information Office at the DPRK Ministry of National Defense issued a press statement containing the threat.
Newsweek contacted the US Department of Defense via email for comment.
Why It Matters
Pyongyang has long cited U.S.-South Korean defense cooperation, including joint exercises, as a destabilizing force to justify its nuclear and ballistic missile programs.
Washington and Seoul have formed an alliance under a mutual defense treaty, with 28,500 US military personnel stationed in South Korea to deter North Korean aggression. The allies have frequently carried out combined military exercises.
What To Know
North Korea stated that “the U.S. and its vassal forces are getting ever more pronounced in their military provocations,” citing the presence of a B-1B strategic bomber over the Korean Peninsula on Thursday and the test-firing of a Minuteman 3 ICBM at Vandenberg Space Force Base the previous day.
“Such military muscle-flexing of the U.S. clearly show the invariable supremacy ambition of the present U.S. administration to gain an overwhelming edge of strength through the maintenance and updating of military capabilities capable of mounting a nuclear attack on any country and region of the world without prior warning,” according to Pyongyang.
It went on: “The typical Yankee-style arrogance and shameless and gangster-like double-standards logic of the U.S., which brands the DPRK’s nuclear deterrence for self-defence as an injustice means and places ‘legality’ and ‘regularity’ on former’s moves for bolstering up nuclear force for hegemony, can never work on the DPRK.
“The DPRK’s nuclear force is a means for legitimate defence to safeguard the national sovereignty and the security of the region.”
Pyongyang concluded: “The DPRK’s response to the military threat and security challenge posed by the United States is clear and consistent.
“The DPRK will counter the strategic threat of the U.S. and other enemies with strategic means and continue its responsible military activities to control and manage the unstable security environment on the Korean peninsula with powerful deterrence.”
What People Are Saying
The South Korean Defense Ministry said of the joint aerial drill on Thursday: “The training was conducted to display the U.S. extended deterrence capabilities against North Korea’s nuclear and missile threats and bolster interoperability of South Korea-U.S. combined forces.”
In January, the White House stated that “complete denuclearization” of North Korea remains President Donald Trump’s top priority.
Pyongyang stated that North Korea’s “accelerated bolstering” is a “realistic requirement for coping with the military threat of the US and its satellite countries,” and that America’s behavior “proves why the DPRK armed forces’ building up of the capability to fight a war with nuclear deterrence as a pivot is a just and inevitable option.”
What Happens Next
As tensions on the Korean Peninsula remain high, the US military will continue to conduct exercises with South Korean and Japanese counterparts. The White House stated that Trump is committed to achieving his denuclearization goal through a “mix of toughness and diplomacy.”
