North Korean officials on Friday knocked their South Korean counterparts in a statement carried on state television, calling a weapons test carried out this week a response to perceived warmongering from the South.
The Associated Press reported that a statement released on North Korean television referred to “South Korean military warmongers” and said that this week’s weapons test likely panicked their adversaries.
{mosads}Accusing the South of implementing “ultramodern offensive weapons,” North Korean officials stated that the test early Thursday morning, which resulted in two projectiles fired near the city of Wonsan, “must have given uneasiness and agony to some targeted forces, enough as it intended.”
The statement goading South Korea’s military comes after the joint U.S. and South Korean forces declared that the missile test a day before had not endangered South Korean or U.S. interests.
The launches, the military said, “were not a threat directed at [South Korea] or the U.S., and have no impact on our defense posture.”
A spokeswoman for the State Department expressed hope that U.S.-North Korean negotiations over disarmament could continue despite the North’s aggressive posture following a summit between Kim Jong Un and President Trump earlier this year.
“We continue to press and hope for these working-level negotiations to move forward,” the State Department said.
Trump had expressed optimism about negotiations with Kim several weeks ago after a meeting between the two men at the Demilitarized Zone in which Trump became the first U.S. president to set foot in North Korea.
“It was great being with Chairman Kim Jong Un of North Korea this weekend. We had a great meeting, he looked really well and very healthy — I look forward to seeing him again soon,” Trump tweeted earlier this month.
“In the meantime, our teams will be meeting to work on some solutions to very long term and persistent problems. No rush, but I am sure we will ultimately get there!”