North Korean state media has responded to President Trump’s decision to re-list it as a state sponsor of terrorism, labelling it a “serious provocation and violent infringement”.
Trump said the move re-designate North Korea as a state sponsor of terrorism “should have happened years ago”. This is despite the fact that the nation was previously on the list, but was removed in 2008. The re-designation will lead to more sanctions being placed on North Korea.
In an interview with the state media outlet KCNAA, a spokesman for the North Korean foreign ministry denied that his government supported terrorism in any way. The spokesman stated that North Korea “doesn’t care whether or not the United States places the hat of terrorism on our heads”.
He said the label was “just a tool for American style authoritarianism that can be attached or removed at any time in accordance with its interests”.
“As long as the US continues with its anti-DPRK hostile policy, our deterrence will be further strengthened,” he said. “The US will be held entirely accountable for all the consequences to be entailed by its impudent provocation to the DPRK.”
The US will be held entirely accountable for all the consequences to be entailed by its impudent provocation to the DPRK.
The spokesman added that North Korea is now more committed to maintaining its nuclear arsenal. He said the US actio shows that North Korea should “firmly grab the treasured nuclear sword” to protect itself from American hostility.
After announcing the designation, Trump told reporters at the White House: “In addition to threatening the world by nuclear devastation, North Korea has repeatedly supported acts of international terrorism, including assassinations on foreign soil.”
A Chinese expert Tong Zhao, a fellow at the Carnegie-Tsinghua Center for Global Policy in Beijing, has said the US decision to place North Korea back on the state sponsored terror list will have a limited practical effect.
China believes there is zero hope in denuclearising North Korea.
“I am afraid that this move may further convince Pyongyang that the United States adopts hostile policies against North Korea and Washington has no intentions to establish a normal relationship,” Zhao said.
“This could greatly undermine the prospect of having a diplomatic solution over the Korean nuclear crisis.”
He added: “China believes there is zero hope in denuclearising North Korea.”
