North Korea Issues Strong Warning to President Biden's Speech, Vows "Corresponding Measures"

[Asia Economy Reporter Yoo In-ho] North Korea strongly opposed U.S. President Joe Biden's North Korea policy.

North Korea warned that Biden's statement of addressing the North Korean nuclear threat through "diplomacy and stern deterrence" was a "very serious mistake" and that it would take corresponding measures. North Korea made an official announcement the day after the U.S. declared it had completed its review of North Korea policy.

Kwon Jung-geun, Director of the U.S. Affairs at the North Korean Ministry of Foreign Affairs, referred to Biden's first congressional speech on the 2nd, stating, "Now that the foundation of the U.S.'s new policy toward Korea has become clear, we inevitably must take corresponding measures, and as time passes, the U.S. will face a very serious situation."

[Image source=Yonhap News]

Earlier, on the 28th of last month (local time), President Biden, in his first congressional speech after taking office, said, "Regarding the nuclear programs of Iran and North Korea, which pose serious threats to U.S. and global security, we will work closely with our allies to address the threats posed by both countries through diplomacy and stern deterrence."

North Korea strongly opposed the U.S. criticism of North Korea's human rights situation, calling it an insult to Kim Jong-un, General Secretary of the Workers' Party.

The U.S. did not disclose any satisfactory content such as the withdrawal of hostile policies demanded by North Korea, aside from the broad principle of seeking diplomatic solutions in both Biden's speech and the North Korea policy review, which seemed to cause displeasure.

Director Kwon said, "If the U.S. continues to handle U.S.-North Korea relations with outdated policies from the Cold War era, it will face increasingly unmanageable crises in the near future," adding, "Certainly, the current U.S. administration has made a very serious mistake at this point."

Kwon claimed, "The 'diplomacy' the U.S. advocates is merely a fa?ade to cover up their hostile acts, and 'deterrence' is just a means to threaten us with nuclear weapons."

He also said, "Accusing us of being a 'serious threat' to U.S. and world security while talking about diplomacy and stern deterrence is something Americans have always said and was expected, but we cannot overlook the way the U.S. administration expressed its stance toward Korea in the first policy speech."

Following Director Kwon, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs spokesperson responded to Ned Price, U.S. State Department spokesperson, who issued a statement on the 28th last month during 'North Korea Freedom Week' organized by North Korean human rights groups and defector organizations.

At that time, Price criticized North Korea as "one of the most repressive and totalitarian countries in the world" and expressed shock at North Korea's order to shoot those who illegally cross the North Korea-China border as part of COVID-19 quarantine measures.

The Ministry of Foreign Affairs spokesperson condemned this as "a concentrated expression of hostile policy toward Korea aimed at tarnishing our country's image, a blatant violation of our national sovereignty," and said, "They politically provoked us severely by slandering our national quarantine measures to protect the people's lives from the pandemic as 'human rights violations' and even touching upon our supreme dignity."

He continued, "For us, human rights are equivalent to national rights," and warned, "We have warned enough that if the U.S. provokes us, it will get hurt. The U.S. will definitely, definitely regret ignoring our warnings and acting recklessly."

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