ROK President Yoon Suk-yeol is welcomed by US Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin (not pictured) to the Pentagon in Washington, DC, on April 27, 2023. (PHOTO / AFP)
SEOUL – Republic of Korea President Yoon Suk-yeol's latest US trip was "the most hostile, aggressive and provocative, dangerous trip for a nuclear war," the state news agency of the Democratic People's Republic of Korea said Sunday.
In a commentary, the Korean Central News Agency (KCNA) voiced harsh criticism and a stern warning, lashing all out at the documents and rhetoric coming out of the recent US-ROK summit talks in Washington.
The commentary blasted the ROK leader, saying his "treacherous and submissive acts to the US” are turning the ROK into “a US arsenal and advanced base for a nuclear war and hurting the security and interests of not only the Korean Peninsula but also the region"
The commentary began by putting the Washington Declaration, a signature document on upgrading "extended deterrence" against the DPRK, in its crosshairs, reprimanding it as "a typical product of the heinous hostile policy towards the DPRK," designed to make "a nuclear war against the DPRK a fait accompli."
"There is no precedent that they (US and ROK) designated the DPRK as a target for a nuclear attack publicly to the world and nakedly stated regular and sustained deployment of strategic nuclear assets to the Korean Peninsula," it added.
ALSO READ: Yoon shows his readiness to open Pandora's box
The commentary then blasted the ROK leader, saying his "treacherous and submissive acts to the US” are turning the ROK into “a US arsenal and advanced base for a nuclear war and hurting the security and interests of not only the Korean Peninsula but also the region."
ROK and the United States issued the Washington Declaration on Wednesday, which announced the establishment of a new Nuclear Consultative Group and the upcoming visit of a US nuclear ballistic missile submarine to ROK for the purpose of strengthening the so-called "extended deterrence."