North Korea's First Anti-US Statement Since Trump 2nd Term Administration Inauguration: "US Still Hostile"

North Korea issued its first statement criticizing the United States since the launch of the second Trump administration. This marks North Korea's first comment amid gestures toward North Korea-US dialogue, with President Trump referring to Kim Jong Un, Chairman of the State Affairs Commission of North Korea, as a "smart man."

Korean Central News Agency reported on the 3rd that a spokesperson for North Korea's Ministry of Foreign Affairs released a statement the previous day condemning "the hostile remarks and actions of the U.S. Secretary of State as a serious political provocation." This was in response to U.S. Secretary of State Mike Rubio referring to North Korea as one of the "rogue states" alongside China and Russia during an interview with local media on the 30th of last month.

The Ministry of Foreign Affairs spokesperson said regarding Rubio's remarks, "It served as an opportunity to reaffirm the unchanged hostile policy of the United States toward Korea (North Korea)," and warned, "We have always been hostile to North Korea and will never tolerate any provocative acts by the United States in the future, and we will respond strongly and correspondingly."

On the same day, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs' Institute for Disarmament and Peace also released a public statement through the Rodong Sinmun, condemning the Trump administration's policy to strengthen the global missile defense (MD) system. The institute stated, "It aims to realize U.S. military hegemony," and "It urgently demands the development of self-defensive national defense centered on nuclear deterrence capability." It added, "We will respond to the increasing military threats of hostile forces with limitless military strengthening."

Professor Im Eul-chul of the Institute of Far Eastern Studies at Kyungnam University analyzed, "This statement clearly shows how much attention the Kim Jong Un regime is paying to every move of key figures in the second Trump administration and how sensitively it is reacting," and "North Korea is expected to continue issuing warnings or pressure messages, and the key variable is what decision President Trump will make."