▲ Naval vessels from South Korea, the United States, and Japan conduct the 2025 Freedom Edge exercise on the high seas south of Jeju on the 16th. From left: the ROKS Yulgok Yi I of the South Korean Navy and the USS Curtis Wilbur of the U.S. Navy.
North Korea's Foreign Ministry claimed that there is no change in the U.S. hostile policy toward North Korea, stating, "There is not an iota of change in our policy toward the U.S. to respond with the utmost hardness to the end."
North Korea emphasized this through a statement by a Foreign Ministry spokesperson today, saying that recently, "we can witness the U.S. confrontational stance being expressed even more clearly" against them.
The Foreign Ministry spokesperson raised three issues in this statement.
First, the spokesperson expressed dissatisfaction with the fact that a U.S. State Department spokesperson and others recently reaffirmed their existing stance of being "committed to the complete denuclearization of North Korea," as well as the ongoing discussions regarding North Korean human rights issues.
The spokesperson also pointed out that the trilateral "Freedom Edge" exercise between South Korea, the U.S., and Japan will proceed as scheduled, criticizing each of these issues as "unmistakably reaffirming the U.S. hostile policy."
The spokesperson went on to emphasize, "Our nuclear weapons are the absolute guarantee for defending sovereignty, and possessing and continuously strengthening nuclear weapons is the most responsible and accurate choice for ensuring regional peace and security."
Furthermore, the spokesperson added, "Our current status, made permanent by the state's supreme law, is not weakened or diluted by the repeated expressions of the U.S. denuclearization stance," and "Fanciful attachment to the past can in no way grasp reality or restrain the future."
While President Trump recently posted a photo with North Korean leader Kim Jong Un on social media, signaling an intent for dialogue, North Korea is setting the withdrawal of the U.S. hostile policy as a condition for improving relations.
This statement is also interpreted as expressing rejection of the fact that denuclearization principles are still being raised at the official level, contrary to President Trump's remarks, while serving as a pressure-laden message demanding more advanced cards regarding combined exercises and human rights policies.
It is also read as a move to distance itself to a certain extent, revealing an atmosphere that it would be difficult to immediately respond to North Korea-U.S. dialogue unless accompanied by a forward-looking shift in the U.S. stance.
(Photo provided by the Joint Chiefs of Staff, Yonhap News)
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