North Korea's Choe Son-hui: "US Obsession with Strengthening Extended Deterrence Will Intensify Military Response"

Choe Son-hui, North Korean Foreign Minister
Photo by Yonhap News

[Asia Economy Reporter Jang Hee-jun] Choe Son-hui, North Korea's Foreign Minister, issued a warning against the United States' policy to strengthen extended deterrence on the Korean Peninsula.

In a statement released on the 17th through the Korean Central News Agency, Foreign Minister Choe said, "The more the United States insists on 'strengthening the provision of extended deterrence' to its allies, and the more it intensifies provocative and bluffing military activities on the Korean Peninsula and in the region, our military response will become fiercer in direct proportion. This will present a more severe, realistic, and inevitable threat to the United States and its followers."

He stated, "A few days ago, the United States, Japan, and South Korea held a trilateral summit, and by labeling our legitimate and justifiable military countermeasures, which were triggered by their aggressive war exercises, as 'provocations,' and rambling about 'strengthening extended deterrence' and 'strong and resolute responses,' I hereby issue a stern warning."

This appears to be aimed at the trilateral summit held on the 13th (local time) in Phnom Penh, Cambodia, during the ASEAN (Association of Southeast Asian Nations) related leaders' meeting, attended by South Korean President Yoon Suk-yeol, U.S. President Joe Biden, and Japanese Prime Minister Fumio Kishida. At that time, the three countries adopted a joint statement in which they pledged to "cooperate to strengthen extended deterrence against North Korea" and warned that "if North Korea conducts a nuclear test, it will face a strong and resolute response from the international community."

Foreign Minister Choe argued, "Surely, this trilateral mock-up will push the situation on the Korean Peninsula into an even more unpredictable phase," adding, "It is necessary to recall that although the United States and its followers have consecutively conducted large-scale aggressive war exercises recently, they have not been able to check our overwhelming response, but rather have ended up increasing their own security crisis."

He continued, "The United States' 'strengthening of extended deterrence' and the increasingly busy joint military activities around the Korean Peninsula are foolish acts that bring greater instability to the United States and its allies."

He concluded by saying, "They will realize that they are making a gamble they will surely regret."

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