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North Korean leader Kim Jong-un makes an inspection of the 3.16 Factory

North Korea described US President Donald Trump’s Asian tour and address to the South Korean National Assembly as the “antagonistic behavior of a warmonger.”

Pyongyang’s first official commentary came three days after Trump’s address on Nov. 2, but took the relatively low-level form of a Foreign Ministry spokesperson’s statement.

In the Nov. 11 statement, North Korea said it was the “position of our Republic to preserve our rights to autonomy, survival, and development by establishing a practical balance of strength with the US.” It was its first official reaction to Trump’s comments on Nov. 8, when he said he wanted to preserve “peace through strength.”

The statement went on to say its possession of nuclear weapons was a “legitimate and unavoidable defensive choice to preserve our country’s autonomy and dignity and uphold the people’s rights to survival and development against the US’s deepening nuclear intimidation and hostile machinations against [North Korea].”

“The ridiculous remarks of an old lunatic like Trump do not surprise us or stop us in our tracks,” it continued.

“On the contrary, they affirm that the twofold path we have chosen is absolutely correct and push us into racing faster ahead with the completion of our great nuclear weapon building endeavor.”

Meanwhile, reports indicated that Trump initially planned to send an even “stronger” message on Pyongyang in his National Assembly speech, but toned it down at his advisors’ suggestion. A Nov. 10 NBC report said Trump “initially wanted to deliver a message of strength that Kim Jong Un – and his Chinese and occasional Russian backers – could not ignore.”

“The president doesn’t want war, but he wants to show strength,” the report quoted a senior US administration official as saying.

The official also said Trump was planning to criticize the North Korean regime more directly, and that the decision to tone down the rhetoric was a “group effort” by advisors.

By Noh Ji-won, staff reporter and Yi Yong-in, Washington correspondent

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