North Korea fires back after top U.S. diplomat calls it a 'rogue state'
Published: 03 Feb. 2025, 17:24
Updated: 03 Feb. 2025, 19:35
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- SEO JI-EUN
- [email protected]
Audio report: written by reporters, read by AI
![U.S. Secretary of State Marco Rubio addresses employees and families during a meet-and-greet at the United States Embassy in Panama City on Feb. 2. [AP/YONHAP]](https://koreajoongangdaily.joins.com/data/photo/2025/02/03/940ff77a-af57-474f-bf6f-45419c165a43.jpg)
U.S. Secretary of State Marco Rubio addresses employees and families during a meet-and-greet at the United States Embassy in Panama City on Feb. 2. [AP/YONHAP]
North Korea issued its first direct criticism of the second Donald Trump administration Monday, warning of “tough counteraction” after U.S. Secretary of State Marco Rubio labeled the regime a “rogue state.”
North Korea’s Foreign Ministry condemned Rubio’s remarks as a “grave political provocation” in an English-language statement released through its state-run Korean Central News Agency (KCNA) and asserted that it "strongly denounces and rejects it.”
“The hostile words and deeds of the person who is in charge of the U.S. foreign policy served as an occasion of confirming once again the U.S. hostile policy toward the DPRK which remains unchanged,” the spokesperson said. DPRK is an acronym of North Korea's official name, the Democratic People's Republic of Korea.
“We will never tolerate any provocation of the U.S., which has been always hostile to the DPRK and will be hostile to it in the future, too, but will take tough counteraction corresponding to it as usual,” the spokesperson added.
Referring to a post-Cold War "multipolar world" with "multi-great powers in different parts of the planet," Rubio told the Megyn Kelly Show on Thursday. "We face that now with China and to some extent Russia, and then you have rogue states like Iran and North Korea."
![North Korean leader Kim Jong-un, center, inspects a nuclear material production base in this photo published by the Korean Central News Agency on Jan. 29. [YONHAP]](https://koreajoongangdaily.joins.com/data/photo/2025/02/03/de41a634-d52a-4376-8879-678b31c4c85f.jpg)
North Korean leader Kim Jong-un, center, inspects a nuclear material production base in this photo published by the Korean Central News Agency on Jan. 29. [YONHAP]
But North Korea instead raised tensions by unveiling a new uranium enrichment facility and signaling it would strengthen the country's "nuclear shield."
"Since North Korea mentioned a tough counteraction strategy toward the United States during a key party meeting at the end of last year, it has been responding immediately to the Trump administration’s initial actions and remarks," South Korea’s Unification Ministry spokesperson Koo Byoung-sam said during a press briefing on Monday.
"What is clear is that North Korea is the entity disrupting international norms and threatening global peace," Koo said, adding that South Korea, the United States and the international community remain committed to the goal of complete denuclearization of the North.
Experts suggest Pyongyang is closely monitoring Trump's moves, possibly vying for leverage in possible future negotiations.
“North Korea's statement shows how closely and sensitively North Korea is watching every action of the Trump administration,” said Lim Eul-chul, a professor at Kyungnam University’s Institute for Far Eastern Studies. “It also reflects Kim Jong-un’s deep distrust of the United States.”
Lim added, “Pyongyang's warning could be that unless Rubio, who oversees U.S. foreign policy, halts his hostile rhetoric toward North Korea, Trump should not expect a summit with Kim Jong-un.”
North Korea also took aim at Trump’s recent directive to strengthen the U.S. missile defense system.
Trump, on Jan. 28, signed an executive order directing the U.S. military to develop an advanced missile interception system similar to Israel’s Iron Dome, which intercepted thousands of incoming rockets.
In a statement released through the North's Foreign Ministry's Institute for Disarmament and Peace, Pyongyang denounced the move, arguing that the U.S. plan to deploy more advanced military equipment "will only escalate" tension and asserting that North Korea itself would respond with "limitless military reinforcement."
“The statement is likely aimed at justifying North Korea’s development of its nuclear missile deterrent,” Yang Moo-jin, president of the University of North Korean Studies, said. "It may be part of building leverage for potential U.S.-North Korea negotiations."
BY SEO JI-EUN [[email protected]]
with the Korea JoongAng Daily
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