U.S. extends olive branch after North's 'nuke-for-nuke' comment

F-35A fighters from the South Korean Air Force fly alongside F-22 and F-35B fighters from the U.S. Air Force in the skies above the Yellow Sea on Wednesday. [DEFENSE MINISTRY]

The United States is not seeking confrontation with North Korea and is open to discussions with the reclusive state, according to an unnamed source from the White House National Security Council quoted by Reuters.

“We have made clear we have no hostile intent toward the DPRK and seek serious and sustained diplomacy to address the full range of issues of concern to both countries and the region,” the source said, referring to the North by the acronym for its official name, the Democratic People’s Republic of Korea.

The statement was issued after the North said Thursday it will fight “nukes with nukes” in a hardline response to U.S. Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin’s latest pledge to deploy more strategic assets to shore up the U.S. security commitment to South Korea during his visit to Seoul.

In an English-language statement carried by Pyongyang’s state-controlled Korean Central News Agency (KCNA), the North’s foreign ministry claimed the United States is driving the security situation on the Korean Peninsula close to an “extreme red line” and stoking further tensions through larger joint military drills with South Korea.

“This is a vivid expression of the U.S. dangerous scenario which will result in turning the Korean Peninsula into a huge war arsenal and a more critical war zone,” the North’s foreign ministry said of Austin’s statement that Washington would deploy more advanced military assets to the South, including F-22 and F-35 jets, to deter the North’s evolving military threats.

The North’s foreign ministry also said Pyongyang will “take the toughest reaction” to any military action by the United States and warned its future responses would follow the principle of “nuke for nuke and an all-out confrontation for an all-out confrontation,” according to the KCNA.

“If the United States continues to introduce strategic assets into the Korean Peninsula and the surrounding region, the DPRK will make clearer its deterring activities without fail according to their nature,” the statement said.

The North Korean foreign ministry also said the regime is not interested in talks with the United States as long as Washington pursues a “hostile policy and confrontational line” toward Pyongyang.

In the statement, the foreign ministry suggested it would not respond to every exercise by South Korea and the United States.

“We do not react to every ill-boding movement shown by the U.S. under the signboard of ‘offer of extended deterrence’ and ‘strengthened alliance,’ but this is by no means that we ignore or take no note,” the statement said.

Park Won-gon, a professor of North Korean studies at Ewha Womans University, said this caveat reflects limitations in Pyongyang’s ability to react each time the allies conduct a joint military exercise.

“In recent years, North Korea has not been able to respond proportionally to actions by South Korea and the United States to bolster extended deterrence,” he said.

Park also cautioned the statement does not imply Pyongyang would slow down in its pursuit of more powerful weapons.

“The statement suggests that the North will focus on staging armed provocations according to their own weapons development plans, disregarding movements by South Korea and the United States.”

Hours earlier, South Korea and the United States staged joint air drills involving a B-1B strategic bomber and F-22 and F-35B stealth fighters from the U.S. Air Force, which Seoul’s defense ministry called a show “will and capabilities” against North Korean military threats.

The allies also plan to hold discussion-based table-top exercises this month to augment contingency plans involving U.S. extended deterrence capabilities, which include the potential use of nuclear weapons to defend South Korea.

Pyongyang launched 70 ballistic missiles last year — a record for a single year — amid persistent speculation it may conduct a nuclear test in the near future.

North Korean leader Kim Jong-un called for an “exponential” increase in its nuclear arsenal and the need to mass-produce tactical nuclear weapons at a key party meeting held late last year.

BY MICHAEL LEE [lee.junhyuk@joongang.co.kr]