North Korea has condemned Biden’s recent remarks regarding missile tests conducted by Pyongyang, warning the US that it may face “something that is not good” if the president continues to make similar “thoughtless remarks.”
The Saturday statement from Ri Pyong Chol, the secretary of the Central Committee of the Workers’ Party of Korea, notes that Biden is shedding light on his “deep-seated hostility” toward North Korea.
“The recent testfire of new-type tactical guided missiles was an act tantamount to the exercise of the full-fledged right of a sovereign state for self-defense, as it was a process that had been undertaken to implement the goals of the policy on national defense science set forth by our party and government to boost the defense capabilities of the country,” Ri explains.
“Such remarks from the US president are an undisguised encroachment on our state’s right to self-defense and provocation to it.”
North Korea has long maintained that continued military drills in the region are a threat to its state as the exercises with regional partners serve as a rehearsal for a potential invasion against the Democratic People's Republic of Korea (DPRK).
Ri went on to state that Biden expressed a “gangster-like logic” by expecting North Korea to not ensure its own security, as Washington gave the go-ahead to resume joint military exercises in the region.
“We are by no means developing weapons to draw someone’s attention or influence his policy. If the war exercise staged by the US right before its belligerent party across the ocean is for ‘defense,’ we are supposed to have the full-fledged right to self-defense to contain the former’s military threat on its mainland,” Ri continued.
“The new US administration obviously took its first step wrong. If the US continues with its thoughtless remarks without thinking of the consequences, it may be faced with something that is not good.”
“We know very well what we must do. We will continue to increase our most thoroughgoing and overwhelming military power,” he concluded.
North Korea’s recent batch of missile tests were the very first such tests to be carried out under the Biden administration. The country had last launched a pair of short-range ballistic missiles in March 2020, at the height of the COVID-19 pandemic.
During the Thursday news conference, Biden blasted the tests and promised that his administration would “respond accordingly” if Pyongyang chooses to carry out any additional tests. However, Biden did also state he would be willing to establish a diplomatic resolution with North Korean leaders, so long as denuclearization is on the table.
Neither the White House nor the US State Department have responded to Ri’s statements.
Ties between the US and the DPRK have remained tense for decades and remained as such under the Trump administration, despite former US President Donald Trump and North Korea leader Kim Jong Un holding meetings on two occasions.