North Korea denounced on Tuesday the United States' approval of South Korea's nuclear-powered submarine push, warning it would trigger a 'nuclear domino' in the region. This marks Pyongyang's first response to the joint fact sheet released last Friday on outcomes from summits between the two allies' leaders. North Korea labeled the document as formalizing a confrontational stance and vowed countermeasures.
North Korea issued a strong rebuke on Tuesday via the Korean Central News Agency (KCNA) against the joint fact sheet released by South Korea and the United States. The document summarizes outcomes from summits between President Lee Jae Myung and U.S. President Donald Trump in August and October, alongside a joint communique from their annual defense talks in early November.
Pyongyang described the U.S. approval of South Korea's nuclear-powered submarine initiative as a 'serious development' that destabilizes security in the Asia-Pacific region. The KCNA stated, "The ROK's possession of nuclear submarine is a strategic move for 'its own nuclear weaponization' and this is bound to cause a 'nuclear domino phenomenon' in the region and spark a hot arms race," using the acronym for South Korea's formal name, the Republic of Korea.
It also condemned U.S. support for South Korea's efforts to secure uranium enrichment and spent nuclear fuel reprocessing capabilities as "laying a springboard for" Seoul to become a "quasi-nuclear weapons state." North Korea lashed out at the allies' commitment to the North's 'complete denuclearization,' calling it "the most vivid manifestation" of the Trump administration's policy.
"This is an intensive expression of their confrontational will to deny the constitution of the DPRK to the last. It proves that their only option is confrontation with the DPRK," the North said, referring to its official name, the Democratic People's Republic of Korea. It claimed the fact sheet formalizes Washington and Seoul's hostile intentions as policy.
"The DPRK will take more justified and realistic countermeasures to defend the sovereignty and security interests of the state and regional peace," the KCNA added.
The response appears measured, issued as a commentary rather than an official government statement, and avoids naming Trump or Lee directly. This comes amid Pyongyang's silence on Trump's repeated proposals to meet leader Kim Jong-un for resuming stalled diplomacy; Kim has previously indicated openness to U.S. talks without demanding denuclearization as a precondition.
