Strengthening 'Korea-US-Japan Trilateral Cooperation,' North Korea Warns "Military Response Will Intensify"

"US Is Making a Regrettable Move"
Warning in Response to the ROK-US-Japan Summit

Choe Son-hui, North Korean Foreign Minister
[Photo by Yonhap News]

[Asia Economy Reporter Jang Hee-jun] North Korea has expressed strong opposition to the strengthening of security cooperation among South Korea, the United States, and Japan centered on "strengthening deterrence against North Korea." The U.S. Air Force is implementing its policy to "maintain the frequency of strategic asset deployment on the Korean Peninsula at a level equivalent to permanent stationing" by moving B-1B Lancer strategic bombers right up to North Korea's doorstep for training. North Korea responded by saying, "The more the provision of extended deterrence is strengthened, the fiercer our military response will be."

Choe Son-hui, North Korea's Foreign Minister, stated in a commentary released through the Korean Central News Agency on the 17th, "The more the United States is obsessed with 'strengthening the provision of extended deterrence' to its allies, and the more it intensifies provocative and bluffing military activities on the Korean Peninsula and in the region, our military response will become fiercer in direct proportion. The United States will realize that it is making a gamble it will surely regret."

Foreign Minister Choe said, "A few days ago, the United States, Japan, and South Korea held a trilateral summit and labeled our legitimate and justifiable military countermeasures, provoked by their aggressive war exercises, as 'provocations,' while rambling about 'strengthening the provision of extended deterrence' and 'strong and resolute responses.' I hereby issue a stern warning regarding this."

This appears to be aimed at the trilateral summit held on the 13th (local time) in Phnom Penh, Cambodia, during the ASEAN (Association of Southeast Asian Nations) related leaders' meeting, attended by South Korean President Yoon Suk-yeol, U.S. President Joe Biden, and Japanese Prime Minister Fumio Kishida. At that time, the three countries adopted a joint statement in which they pledged to "cooperate to strengthen extended deterrence against North Korea" and warned that "if North Korea conducts a nuclear test, it will face a strong and resolute response from the international community."

Foreign Minister Choe argued, "Surely, this trilateral mock-up will push the situation on the Korean Peninsula into an even more unpredictable phase," adding, "It is necessary to recall that although the United States and its followers have consecutively conducted large-scale aggressive war exercises recently, they have not been able to check our overwhelming response, and instead have only increased their own security crisis."

Choe Son-hui, who was the First Vice Minister of Foreign Affairs, was promoted to Foreign Minister at the expanded meeting of the 5th Plenary Session of the 8th Central Committee of the Workers' Party in June. Since then, although Foreign Minister Choe has sent congratulatory messages to China and accompanied Kim Jong-un, General Secretary of the Workers' Party, on his schedule, this is the first time she has issued a statement in her own name.

Experts analyzed this statement as a reaction against the policy to strengthen deterrence against North Korea announced at the South Korea-U.S.-Japan summit. In particular, the fact that Foreign Minister Choe personally appeared suggests that the statement is more official and raises the level of warning.

Yang Moo-jin, president of the University of North Korean Studies, said, "North Korea's statement this time should be seen as emphasizing warning or opposition rather than actually signaling provocation," adding, "However, the fact that the statement was made by the Foreign Minister indicates a higher level of opposition." He further explained, "It can also be interpreted as indirectly expressing the intention that if the U.S. does not strengthen extended deterrence or deploy strategic assets on the Korean Peninsula, North Korea will not carry out military provocations either," and added, "Ultimately, it shifts the responsibility for the situation on the Korean Peninsula onto the United States."