North Korea calls U.S.-South Korea missile development hostile policy

A North Korean commentator on Monday said that the Biden administration’s lifting of restrictions on South Korea’s missile development program was an example of “hostile policy” toward the nation.

Kim Myong Chol, an international affairs critic who was a close associate of Kim Jong-il, responded to the development from a summit on May 21 between President Biden and South Korean President Moon Jae-in. 

During the meeting, Biden agreed to end the U.S.’s 42-year-long restrictions on South Korea’s nuclear weapons, with South Korea now capable of developing ballistic missiles reaching beyond previous limited ranges. 

The Associated Press reported that the commentator Kim on Monday said, “The termination step is a stark reminder of the U.S. hostile policy toward (North Korea) and its shameful double-dealing.” 

“It is engrossed in confrontation despite its lip-service to dialogue,” he was quoted as saying by the Korean Central News Agency. 

Kim added that “the U.S. is mistaken” with the latest policy development, which changes restrictions that had previously prevented South Korea from developing a weapon with a range of more than 500 miles. 

“It is a serious blunder for it to pressurize (North Korea) by creating asymmetric imbalance in and around the Korean Peninsula as this may lead to the acute and instable situation on the Korean Peninsula now technically at war,” he said, the AP reported. 

Kim further accused the U.S. of attempting to start an arms race in the region, which the previous restrictions had attempted to prevent. 

While the remarks are not an official statement from a North Korean government body, they mark the first public response from within North Korea on the summit between the U.S. and South Korean leaders. 

The AP reported that while some South Korean commentators have praised the Biden administration’s decision to lift the restrictions, others perceived it as a U.S. attempt to build its military influence in the region amid escalating tensions with China. 

In response to Kim’s comments Monday, the South Korean government said it “prudently watches” North Korea’s reaction, but a government spokeswoman would not comment further to the AP, citing that the remarks did not come from a North Korean government official. 

Biden’s summit with Moon comes as the administration looks to shape its foreign policy beyond former President Trump, who engaged in several failed attempts to negotiate directly with North Korean leader Kim Jong Un on the country’s nuclear weapons program. 

Biden, on the same day of his summit with Moon, announced that he had appointed Sung Kim, a career diplomat with expertise on North Korea policy, to serve as a special envoy to North Korea.