North Korea warned Saturday of “more overwhelming and offensive” countermeasures against any enhanced U.S. military action, criticizing U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken’s recent visit to China.
Kwon Jong-gun, director general of the Department of U.S. Affairs at Pyongyang’s foreign ministry, issued the warning as Washington has recently made efforts to bolster its “extended deterrence” commitment to defending South Korea with all of its military capabilities.
“We seriously warn that the scale and scope of the DPRK’s counteraction measures will be extended more overwhelmingly and offensively in case the escalation of the U.S. military action and provocation in the Korean peninsula and the region is spotted,” Kwon said in an English-language statement released by the official Korean Central News Agency (KCNA).
DPRK stands for the North’s official name, the Democratic People’s Republic of Korea.
“Unless the U.S. stops the act of violating our sovereignty and threatening us in disregard of our rights and interests and takes a clear action measure to lift its heinous hostile policy toward the DPRK, there will be neither restraint nor adjustment in the latter’s exercise of its right to self defense,” the official added.
Kwon lambasted Blinken’s remarks during his recent trip to Beijing that China is in a “unique” position to press Pyongyang to engage in dialogue. He called the remarks “rubbish” and not helpful to resolving the issue.
The KCNA also ran a separate commentary slamming the U.S.’ deployment of high-profile military assets to South Korea, citing the USS Michigan guided missile submarine’s arrival in South Korea.
“Such reckless expanded deployment of strategic assets … presupposes irretrievable catastrophic consequences to peace and security in the region and the rest of the world,” Kang Jin-song, an international affairs analyst, said.
The USS Michigan entered a key naval base in Busan, 320 kilometers southeast of Seoul, on June 16 and departed Thursday.
The arrival of the submarine came after the United States pledged to further enhance the “regular visibility” of strategic assets on the Korean Peninsula through the Washington Declaration issued by President Yoon Suk Yeol and U.S. President Joe Biden during their summit in Washington in April.
Source: Yonhap News Agency