The Democratic People’s Republic of Korea’s defence minister, No Kwang Chol, told KCNA on Friday that the United States and its allies have “become brazen in its military moves to threaten the security of the DPRK,” and vowed that Pyongyang “will show more offensive action against the enemies’ threat on the principle of ensuring security and defending peace by dint of powerful strength.”
In a dramatic press statement titled “The DPRK armed forces’ cognition against the enemy and counteraction will be more clearly manifested,” KCNA quoted No Kwang Chol describing a recent escalation of military activity that he said leaves Pyongyang with no option but to respond. “Recently, the U.S. military has become brazen in its military moves to threaten the security of the DPRK, intentionally escalating the political and military tension in the region,” the statement said. It singled out the deployment of the U.S. nuclear-powered carrier task force around the Korean peninsula, saying the “appearance of the super-large nuclear carrier George Washington task force belonging to the U.S. Seventh Fleet heralds the critical excess, further escalating the tension on the Korean peninsula.” The minister also accused U.S. and ROK military leaders of visiting areas “near the southern border of the DPRK to fan up war hysterics” and of using an annual security consultative meeting to “conspire the strengthening of their deterrence to the DPRK and the rapid promotion of the process of integrating the nuclear forces with the conventional forces.”
No Kwang Chol framed those actions as a deliberate and open demonstration of hostility, telling KCNA that “this is a stark revelation and an unveiled intentional expression of their hostile nature to stand against the DPRK to the end.” He described the heightened posture on and around the peninsula as “the true circumstances of the Korean peninsula and an everyday occurrence,” and asked rhetorically what the world should expect Pyongyang to do under such conditions. “What does the world expect us to do, imagining what position we will be in under such circumstances?” he asked, before issuing a blunt conclusion: “We have no other choice.”
The statement left little room for ambiguity about Pyongyang’s intentions, repeatedly stressing readiness and a willingness to take offensive measures. “We have correctly understood the hostility of the U.S. to stand in confrontation with the DPRK to the last and will never avoid the response to it,” KCNA quoted No as saying. He warned that “in the future, all threats encroaching upon our sphere of security will become direct targets of the DPRK and be managed in a necessary way,” and declared plainly, “We are ready to respond to everything.”
In closing, the defence minister framed potential DPRK actions as defensive measures aimed at preserving what he described as stability and peace, even while promising an intensified posture: “We will show more offensive action against the enemies’ threat on the principle of ensuring security and defending peace by dint of powerful strength,” the KCNA dispatch reported. The statement, issued under KCNA’s byline, signals a sharpened tone from Pyongyang and sets a public marker of the regime’s stated readiness to escalate its military response should it judge its security threatened.
