North Korea Warns U.S.–South Korea Deal Will Trigger ‘Nuclear Domino Effect’
North Korea on Tuesday said South Korea’s plan to build nuclear-powered submarines with U.S. approval would trigger a “nuclear domino” effect.
On Friday, South Korea and the U.S. jointly released the details of the agreement struck by President Lee Jae Myung and President Donald Trump at their summit last month, which included a commitment to disarm the North’s nuclear arsenal.
The U.S. also gave the green light for South Korea to build nuclear-powered attack submarines, a goal that had been long harboured by Seoul.
The agreement revealed the “true colours of the confrontational will of the U.S. and the ROK to remain hostile towards the DPRK,” the state news agency KCNA said on Tuesday, using the acronyms for South and North Korea. That pledge and a series of large-scale joint military drills by the two countries posed grave challenges to the North’s security and aggravated regional tensions, it said.
It accused Seoul of secretly advancing a “long-cherished ambition to possess nuclear weapons” that is bound to set off a “nuclear domino phenomenon” in the region and spark an arms race.
South Korean presidential office spokesperson Kang Yu-jung said later on Tuesday that Seoul has no hostile or confrontational intent against the North and cooperation with the U.S. was intended to protect its national security interests.
