Seoul, November 18 – North Korea blasted a new U.S.‑South Korean joint fact sheet released on Friday, calling it another example of the “confrontational” policy of the United States and South Korea. The North warned it would take “counter‑measures” in response.
The fact sheet was issued after two summits in August and October between South Korean President Lee Jae‑Myung and former U.S. President Donald Trump. It laid out the results of those talks and followed a joint communique issued after the partners’ recent defense talks in early November.
North Korea’s state media slammed the document. It criticized the U.S. and South Korea’s pledge to finish North Korea’s denuclearization and the United States’ approval of South Korea’s plan to build nuclear‑powered submarines. In a lengthy statement, the Korean Central News Agency (KCNA) said the North “will take more justified and realistic counter‑measures to defend its sovereignty and security interests.”
According to the statement, the new agreement shows the U.S. and South Korea’s hostile stance toward the North is an explicit policy. The KCNA called the summit agreements a “vivid manifestation” of Trump’s hard‑line stance on North Korea and said the U.S. commitment to “complete denuclearization” was an intensification of that approach.
KCNA also called Washington’s support for South Korea’s acquisition of nuclear submarines a “serious development” that could destabilize the Asia‑Pacific and spark an “uncontrollable nuclear race” in the region. The agency warned that “the ROK’s possession of nuclear submarines is a strategic move for its own nuclear weaponisation” and could lead to a domino effect.
North Korea denied the U.S. endorsement of South Korea’s push to secure uranium enrichment and spent‑fuel reprocessing, saying it was a springboard for Seoul to become a “quasi‑nuclear weapons state.”
The North’s sharp rebuke comes as the U.S. has not yet responded to President Trump’s repeated invitation for a meeting with North Korean leader Kim Jong‑un. Kim said his country remains open to talks if the U.S. does not make denuclearization the precondition for dialogue.
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