North Korea has said that the US is continuing a hostile policy toward Pyongyang despite President Trump recently scaling back joint US-South Korean war games and praising his relationship with North Korean Supreme Leader Kim Jong Un.
In a statement carried by the Korean Central News Agency, a North Korean Foreign Ministry spokesperson said that Pyongyang has seen the “US stand of confrontation with the [Democratic People’s Republic of Korea] being more clearly expressed recently.”
The spokesperson cited a recent statement from the US State Department saying the US remains committed to the “denuclearization” of the Korean Peninsula, which came after denuclearization was left out of a readout of a call between US Secretary of State Marco Rubio and his South Korean counterpart, Cho Hyun.
The North Korean spokesperson also cited the fact that the US would hold war games with South Korea and Japan, known as Freedom Edge, that will begin on September 7. The trilateral military exercise began in 2024, following a Camp David summit hosted by President Biden and attended by the leaders of South Korea and Japan in 2023.
The US has been fostering the repair of relations between Tokyo and Seoul and encouraging a military alliance between the two countries as part of its strategy against China. The North Korean spokesperson said that the trilateral war games “constitute a threat to the DPRK and regional countries.”
The spokesperson also defended Pyongyang’s nuclear arsenal, saying North Korea’s “nukes serve as an absolute guarantee for defending its sovereignty and that the nuclear weapons in the possession of the DPRK and their sustained bolstering are the most responsible and correct option for ensuring regional peace and security.”
The spokesperson added that there is “no change in our policy toward the U.S. to respond to its invariable hostile policy with the toughest stand to the last.” North Korea also recently denounced a new US arms sale to South Korea.
President Trump has said he seeks to meet with Kim by the end of this year, but so far there’s no sign Pyongyang is interested in a summit, though Kim’s sister, Kim Yo Jong, recently said the two leaders “still have an excellent relationship.”
Trump has suggested that he scaled back the joint US-South Korean drills over Seoul’s position on the Iran war, but the move aligns with the agenda of South Korean President Lee Jae Myung, who has proposed direct talks with North Korea and seeks more military independence from the US.
