North Korea criticizes allies’ updated deterrence strategy

Seoul, Nov 16 (EFE).- North Korea said Thursday it condemned the update of the military deterrence protocols of South Korea and the United States approved during the recent visit of the American Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin to Seoul.

“American imperialist warmongers and their followers amended the ‘Tailored Deterrence Strategy’ aimed at a nuclear attack against (North Korea),” read a text from the North Korean Foreign Ministry published by state news agency KCNA.

The letter also criticizes Austin’s announcement that the mechanism for sharing real-time data on North Korean missile launches between Seoul, Tokyo and Washington will soon come into operation.

Pyongyang also condemns the actions of Seoul and Washington over the last year, in which both have established the so-called Nuclear Consultation Group.

Austin also said in Korea that Washington would continue maintaining the pace of deployment seen in recent months on sending strategic assets to the peninsula to deter North Korea, adding that another aircraft carrier and its attack group would soon arrive at a South Korean port.

The statement published by KCNA says the allies’ position “is not at all defensive but seeks to invade the Democratic People’s Republic of Korea” and that “the US and its followers are simply those who aggravate military tensions in the Korean Peninsula in the rhetorical and practical sense.

Since denuclearization negotiations with the US failed in 2019, North Korea approved a weapons modernization plan and, in addition to rejecting the restart of dialog, has sought greater rapprochement with Beijing and Moscow.

Seoul and Washington have reinforced military cooperation with Tokyo and strengthened their deterrence mechanism by repeatedly deploying US strategic assets to the peninsula. EFE

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