North Korea condemns Seoul's recent security deal with Washington as 'confrontational'

President Donald Trump and President Lee Jae-myung [AP/Yonhap]

SEOUL, November 18 (AJP) - North Korea denounced a joint fact sheet released last week outlining trade and security agreements between Seoul and Washington, warning that it will take countermeasures against what it describes as "confrontational stance," state media reported on Tuesday.

In a lengthy commentary, KCNA claimed the sheet revealed the "true colors of the confrontational will of the U.S. and the [South] to remain hostile toward the [North]" and vowed to "take more justified and realistic countermeasures to defend the sovereignty and security interests of the state and regional peace."

Criticizing Washington's determination to achieve the complete denuclearization of the North, it said this was an "intensive expression of their confrontational will to deny the constitution of the [North] to the last," adding that it "proves that their only option is confrontation with the [North]."

KCNA also denounced Washington's approval of Seoul's push to build nuclear-powered submarines using U.S.-supplied fuel, warning that it could destabilize the Asia-Pacific region and trigger an arms race.

"The U.S. allowed [South Korea's] possession of nuclear submarine, disregarding the danger of the global nuclear arms race to be incurred by the nuclear proliferation to a non-nuclear state, and gave green light for the enrichment of uranium and the reprocessing of nuclear waste fuel, thus laying a springboard for its development into the 'quasi-nuclear weapons state,'" it said.

The "strategic move" is "bound to cause a 'nuclear domino phenomenon' in the region and spark a hot arms race," it added.

* This article, published by Aju Business Daily, was translated by AI and edited by AJP.