North Korea Issues Warning Message, U.S. Maintains Strategic Silence

[Asia Economy Reporter Yoo In-ho, New York=Correspondent Baek Jong-min] The Joe Biden administration in the United States is maintaining a no-response strategy to North Korea's emotional verbal provocations.

As the current U.S. Secretary of State and Secretary of Defense are on a tour of South Korea and Japan amid ongoing tensions, this is interpreted as a measure to avoid provoking North Korea as much as possible while establishing the direction of North Korea policy.

[Image source=Yonhap News]

Jen Psaki, White House spokesperson, on the 16th (local time), dismissed North Korea's warning message to the U.S. over the South Korea-U.S. joint military exercises by saying, "We will not directly comment or respond to statements coming from North Korea."

Kim Yo-jong, Vice Director of the North Korean Workers' Party, criticized the South Korea-U.S. joint exercises on the 16th and issued the first public warning message to the Biden administration. This was the first reaction after no response to the Biden administration's inauguration, marking a 'verbal provocation' coinciding with the South Korea-Japan tour.

[Image source=Yonhap News]

Spokesperson Psaki emphasized, "Our immediate focus is cooperating and coordinating with our partners and allies on various issues, including security on the Korean Peninsula."

When asked if this was a toned-down response to avoid provoking North Korea, she replied, "Our goal will always be focused on diplomacy and denuclearization in North Korea."

Psaki then reminded that Secretary of State Antony Blinken and Secretary of Defense Lloyd Austin are currently touring South Korea and Japan, explaining that regional security issues will clearly be topics of discussion with both countries.

Meanwhile, the U.S. State Department also did not respond to Asia Economy's inquiry regarding Kim Yo-jong's statement. The U.S. stance on North Korea is also reflected in reports about confusion within the U.S. government’s North Korea policy released that day.

On the same day, NBC News cited three current senior administration officials and one former senior official, reporting that the U.S. government decided during a National Security Council (NSC) senior staff meeting at the White House to avoid provoking North Korea and to use a moderated tone while the North Korea policy review is underway.

However, concerns about North Korea's nuclear weapons and missiles remain. On the same day, Glenn VanHerck, Commander of the U.S. Northern Command, in a written response submitted to the Senate Armed Services Committee hearing, stated, "North Korea has achieved worrying success in attempts to demonstrate its capability to threaten the U.S. mainland with nuclear-armed intercontinental ballistic missiles (ICBMs)," and assessed, "The Kim Jong-un regime believes such weapons are necessary to deter U.S. military action and ensure regime survival."

This content was produced with the assistance of AI translation services.