North Korea's foreign ministry issued a forceful condemnation after the United States approved the transfer of advanced air-to-air missiles and associated equipment to South Korea, state news agency KCNA reported on Saturday. In a statement relayed by KCNA, the ministry's director-general for external policy said the decision would aggravate tensions on the Korean peninsula.
The official's statement described military cooperation between Washington and Seoul as being "systematically strengthened," even as, in North Korea's view, there is growing international concern about rising tensions in and around the peninsula. The statement specifically pointed to the U.S. State Department's approval of a foreign military sale valued at nearly $300 million for advanced air-to-air missiles and related equipment to South Korea as the most recent example of that cooperation.
"U.S. arms exports are war exports," the director-general was quoted as saying by KCNA. The statement added that North Korea would press ahead with measures to strengthen what it termed a self-defensive deterrent, with the stated purpose of maintaining the regional balance of power.
Pyongyang has, according to the KCNA account, long criticized the scale and character of U.S.-South Korea military collaboration, framing such cooperation as preparations for war. In its latest statement, the foreign ministry reiterated that position and framed the U.S. approval of the missile sale as further evidence of a pattern of bolstered military ties between Washington and Seoul.
The KCNA report presented the official comments as both a condemnation of the specific arms sale and a broader critique of ongoing U.S.-South Korea military engagement. The North Korean statement emphasized that the missile approval would have the effect of worsening tensions in the region and justified North Korea's stated need to enhance its own defensive capabilities.
The published remarks combined a denunciation of the arms transfer with an assertion of intent to continue strengthening military deterrence, framed as necessary to preserve a balance of power in the region. The state media account also reiterated North Korea's routine framing of U.S.-South Korea military cooperation as preparations for conflict.
Clear summary
North Korea has strongly objected to the U.S. decision to approve the sale of advanced air-to-air missiles and related equipment to South Korea, calling the transfer a driver of increased tensions and asserting it will further bolster its own defensive deterrent to maintain regional balance.