North Korea Says US-South Korea Summit Agreement Escalating Tensions in Region

North Korea blasted the recent agreement made between the United States and South Korea during the allies’ summit in Washington the previous week. The agreement, which would boost the deployment of US strategic assets in the region, would escalate tensions in the region, according to Pyongyang.

North Korean state media outlet KCNA said on Monday that the US-South Korea agreement, also known as the Washington Declaration, was an indication of how willing the two countries are to “take the most hostile and aggressive action” against North Korea, according to its security analyst Choe Ju-Hyon. KCNA said the agreement – which would boost the US deployment of strategic assets to the region – has placed the current situation in the Korean peninsula in a “quagmire of instability” that sought to build “aggressive and exclusive military blocs in the region.”

KCNA went on to say that the agreement not only aimed to shift the responsibility of “the worst-ever nuclear-related crimes” in destroying the nuclear non-proliferation system but also pushed the situation “to the brink of a nuclear war.”

“It is the hegemonic sinister aim pursued by the US to turn the whole of South Korea into its biggest nuclear war outpost in the Far East and effectively use it for attaining its strategy for dominating the world,” said KCNA. North Korea has said that following the US-South Korea Summit, it has reinforced its conviction to further develop its “nuclear war deterrent.”

During the summit last week, US President Joe Biden and South Korean President Yoon Suk-yeol agreed to strengthen their deterrence against North Korea by deploying US military assets to nuclear-armed US submarines. The announcement was made during a joint news conference which also marked the 70th anniversary of the alliance of the two countries.

Yoon said the new agreement with Washington was an indication of an “unprecedented expansion and strengthening” of the bilateral strategy. Yoon added that the two allies agreed to “immediate bilateral presidential consultations in the event of North Korea’s nuclear attack, a promise to respond swiftly, overwhelmingly, and decisively using the full force of the alliance,” which included US nuclear weapons.