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North Korea slams South Korea-U.S. summit agreements as 'confrontational stance' against Pyongyang

Published: 18 Nov. 2025, 08:48 Updated: 18 Nov. 2025, 10:40

YOON SO-YEON
[email protected]

North Korean leader Kim Jong-un arrives at a military parade to commemorate the 80th anniversary of the end of World War II held in front of Tiananmen Gate in Beijing, China, Sept. 3. [AP/YONHAP]

North Korea denounced the trade and security agreements between South Korea and the United States as solidifying the two countries' "confrontational" stance against Pyongyang, and warned that the North will take "legitimate and realistic" countermeasures for the protection of its own rights.

The North also said Washington's approval of South Korea's push to build a nuclear-powered submarine will lead to a "nuclear domino" effect in the region, according to the Korean Central News Agency (KCNA) on Tuesday.

"We will take more legitimate and realistic measures to protect our sovereignty, security interests and regional peace as the U.S. and the Republic of Korea have once again formalized and made policy their confrontational stance against our nation," the KCNA said.

The statement comes four days after South Korea and the U.S. released the document last Friday, outlining the outcomes of two summits between President Lee Jae Myung and U.S. President Donald Trump in August and October. The U.S. officially approved Seoul's bid to build nuclear-propelled submarines and voiced its support for the ally's drive to secure uranium enrichment and spent nuclear fuel reprocessing capabilities.

"To vow the absolute denuclearization of the Democratic People's Republic of Korea is the essential expression of their confrontational stance against our nation — a denial of our Constitution, our nation and our existence," said KCNA.

The North called the nuclear-propelled submarines a "detrimental development that will destabilize the military security balance not just the Korean Peninsula but the Asia-Pacific region, and will ultimately pose an uncontrollable nuclear crisis on a global scale."

It further claimed that Seoul's pursuit of a nuclear-powered submarine is a stepping stone toward acquiring its own nuclear weapons, which would result in a "nuclear domino effect" in the region and intensify the arms race.

"The United States is attempting to establish a NATO-style security structure in the Asia-Pacific through regionalization and modernization of the U.S.-South Korea alliance," said the KCNA. "This move reflects an escalation in Washington’s hegemonic ambitions to surround and deter rival powers, which calls for heightened awareness and greater responsible efforts to address the growing instability of regional and global security."

BY YOON SO-YEON, YONHAP [[email protected]]