Kim Jong-un, chairman of North Korea’s State Affairs Commission, underscored his resolve to strengthen military capabilities on Nov. 1, when he inspected a special operations unit on the same day the leaders of South Korea and China met in Gyeongju to discuss cooperation on Korean Peninsula issues. (Image courtesy of Korean Central Television)
SEOUL, Nov. 18 (Korea Bizwire) — North Korea on Tuesday issued its first official response to last week’s U.S.–South Korea summit, denouncing the joint fact sheet and Security Consultative Meeting (SCM) statement as fresh evidence of what it called Washington and Seoul’s “hostile and confrontational intent.”
In a lengthy commentary carried by the Korean Central News Agency (KCNA), Pyongyang claimed the documents “officialized and institutionalized” a policy of confrontation, adding that the North would take “more justified and realistic measures” to defend its sovereignty and security.
The statement came four days after President Lee Jae-myung and U.S. President Donald Trump unveiled a joint fact sheet reaffirming their commitment to North Korea’s “complete denuclearization,” a shift in phrasing from the earlier “complete denuclearization of the Korean Peninsula.” North Korea argued this wording “denies the existence of our state” and represents a direct assault on its constitutional foundations.
Pyongyang also accused Washington of hypocrisy for invoking the 2018 Singapore summit agreement, saying the U.S. had “nullified it first” and that no dialogue was possible as long as denuclearization remained a precondition.
President Lee Jae-myung and U.S. President Donald Trump walk and talk as they move to the summit venue at the Gyeongju National Museum on Oct. 29. (Photo provided by the Presidential Office.)
The commentary sharply criticized the U.S. decision to approve South Korea’s development of nuclear-powered submarines, calling it a destabilizing move that could trigger a “nuclear domino effect” and intensify regional arms competition. It further suggested that Seoul’s nuclear-submarine ambitions could be used to counter China, signaling Pyongyang’s willingness to align more closely with Beijing and Moscow on regional security issues.
The North also objected to references to freedom of navigation and stability in the Taiwan Strait, accusing the summit documents of undermining the “territorial integrity and core interests” of regional sovereign states—language that echoed Beijing’s position.
On the economic front, the commentary criticized U.S. support for South Korea’s expanded uranium-enrichment and spent-fuel reprocessing rights, characterizing it as steps toward making Seoul a “quasi-nuclear state.” It also derided recently expanded shipbuilding and customs cooperation between the allies as deepening a “master-subordinate relationship.”
Notably, North Korea’s response did not come in the form of an official government statement or personal attacks on Trump or Lee—an unusual restraint. The piece was issued under KCNA’s commentary section and did not appear in Rodong Sinmun, the main domestic newspaper.
Analysts said the tone suggested strategic calibration rather than immediate escalation.
Im Eul-chul, a professor at Kyungnam University’s Institute for Far Eastern Studies, said the response reflected “a kind of resigned, almost cynical observation,” indicating structural shifts in Pyongyang’s approach to Washington and Seoul. “This signals that North Korea intends to engage the new U.S.–South Korea policy line from a long-term strategic perspective,” he said.
M. H. Lee (mhlee@koreabizwire.com)
