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North Korean leader Kim Jong-un speaks at an event commemorating the 80th anniversary of the founding of the Workers’ Party of Korea on Oct. 9, 2025. (KCNA/Yonhap)

North Korea issued its first official response to the joint fact sheet released after the South Korea-US summit and the joint statement of the South Korea-US Security Consultative Meeting, warning that South Korea’s construction of nuclear-powered submarines will lead to a “nuclear domino” effect in the region. It also denounced the two countries’ stated goal of the “complete denuclearization” of North Korea.

In an editorial titled “Commentary on Confrontational Declaration of US-ROK Alliance,” the state-run Korean Central News Agency claimed on Tuesday that the US and South Korea are “openly ignoring the DPRK’s legitimate security concern[s] and aggravating the regional tension,” using the abbreviated form of North Korea’s official name, the Democratic People’s Republic of Korea.

“The confrontational intention of the US and the ROK to remain hostile towards the DPRK was formulated as their policy once again,” the outlet said, adding that North Korea would “take more justified and realistic countermeasures to defend the sovereignty and security interests of the state and regional peace.”

This lengthy commentary, spanning over 1,600 words in English, is North Korea’s official response to the joint fact sheet from the South Korea-US summit and the joint statement from the South Korea-US Security Consultative Meeting released last Friday.

North Korea particularly objected to the use of the phrase “complete denuclearization” of the North as opposed to “complete denuclearization of the Korean Peninsula,” calling it a “den[ial of] the entity and the existence of the DPRK.” 

It dismissed the US’ pledge to make an effort to implement the joint statement produced during the 2018 Singapore North Korea-US summit, calling it the “height of shamelessness.”

“The US is talking about the implementation of the past DPRK-US agreement which has been scrapped and nullified by the US itself,” the commentary read, calling the move illustrative of the “way of thinking of Yankees” which embodies self-centered arrogance. 

The KCNA asserted that the recent summit agreements were “the most vivid manifestation” of the Trump administration’s policy stance toward North Korea, adding that the US commitment at the summit level with South Korea to the complete denuclearization of North Korea is an “intensive expression of their confrontational will to deny the constitution of the DPRK to the last.”

The KCNA further said that this “put an end to the burning question among media and experts about the true nature and orientation of the present US administration’s policy toward the DPRK,” claiming that not only Pyongyang, but the entire international community, has confirmed their understanding of the US stance toward North Korea. 

Regarding the US granting South Korea approval to construct nuclear-powered submarines, it condemned the action as “a serious development that destabilizes the security situation in the Asia-Pacific region beyond the Korean Peninsula and causes the situation of impossible nuclear control in the global sphere.”

It further asserted that South Korea’s possession of nuclear submarines is a “strategic move for ‘its own nuclear weaponization’ and this is bound to cause a ‘nuclear domino phenomenon’ in the region and spark a hot arms race.”

The “hegemonic” scheme by the US to “encircle and contain rivals by forming a US-led NATO-style security structure in the Asia-Pacific region by putting the US-ROK alliance on a regional and modern basis” is becoming a reality. Such reality requires heightened vigilance regarding the increasingly unstable regional and international security situation, along with redoubling responsible efforts to address these encroachments, the agency wrote. 

This appears to be a statement indicating North Korea’s intent to participate in “responsible efforts” at the regional level, while also pointing out that South Korea’s possession of nuclear-powered submarines could be utilized for the purpose of containing China.

Furthermore, North Korea criticized the US for expressing its support for South Korea’s move to secure uranium enrichment and spent nuclear fuel reprocessing capabilities, stating this paves the way for South Korea to become a “quasi-nuclear weapons state” and exposes America’s “dangerous attempt at confrontation.”

Despite its vehement opposition to South Korea’s policies as well as those of the Trump administration, Pyongyang appears to have exercised restraint in its response, as the statement was issued in the form of a KCNA commentary rather than in the name of a high-ranking official.

By Park Min-hee, senior staff writer

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