NKorea Slams US for Labelling It 'Persistent Threat'

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Facts

• North Korea on Wednesday condemned the US Dept. of Defense's counter-weapons of mass destruction (WMD) strategy paper, which describes Pyongyang as a 'persistent threat.'¹
• Last week, the Pentagon released the 2023 version of its Strategy for Countering Weapons of Mass Destruction, which identifies China as a 'pacing challenge,' and Russia as an 'acute threat,' with North Korea and Iran being labeled 'persistent threats as they continue to further pursue and develop WMD.'²
• North Korea's Defense Ministry rejected the designation and, for its part, accused the US of stepping up its nuclear threats, pointing to joint military exercises with South Korea and the deployment of a strategic nuclear submarine. It also criticized Russia and China's classification as a 'political provocation.'³
• Claiming in its statement that Washington 'just revealed its dangerous intention' to threaten the North and other nations, Pyongyang added that the North's military will respond to the US military strategy with the 'most overwhelming and sustained response strategy.'⁴
• Last week, the Supreme People's Assembly, North Korea's parliament, approved a constitutional amendment enshrining the country's nuclear policy in the constitution. Leader Kim Jong Un said the North must 'accelerate the modernisation of nuclear weapons' to counter what he called threats from the US and South Korea.⁵
• On Wednesday, South Korea's Defense Ministry said that the constitutional amendment would further increase the North's international isolation and the suffering of its people. It also warned Pyongyang that any move to launch nuclear weapons would mean the end of North Korea's government.⁶

Sources: ¹Reuters, ²Iran international, ³The straits times, ⁴Washington Post, ⁵Al Jazeera and ⁶Associated Press.

Narratives

• Establishment-critical narrative, as provided by Yonhap news agency. With its updated WMD counter-strategy, the US is turning reality upside down, as it is Washington and its military-industrial complex that pose the greatest threat to the world. The US is the world's largest WMD-armed state and the only one that has ever used nuclear weapons. To justify its policy of global military hegemony, it projects the threat it poses itself onto declared 'enemies.' This explains the need for North Korea to increase its nuclear arsenal and diversify its nuclear strike capability.
• Pro-establishment narrative, as provided by Koreatimes. Pyongyang not only rejects denuclearization but has also passed a law allowing the use of nuclear weapons as an offensive war option. Meanwhile, Pyongyang is developing and stationing nuclear capabilities that could reach regional US allies as well as the US itself. Moreover, the DPRK's chemical and biological arsenal poses a constant threat to any nation the regime considers an 'enemy.' The Kim regime represents an incalculable danger, and the US is right to adapt to this persistent threat.

Predictions