North Korea responded to remarks made by President Joe Biden last week by saying Biden had antagonized the country.
In his address to Congress on Wednesday, Biden said the nuclear programs of North Korea and Iran presented “serious threats to American security and the security of the world.”
He spoke of dealing with the two nations “through diplomacy as well as stern deterrence.”
That did not sit well in North Korea, which was a major target of former President Donald Trump’s foreign policy in an attempt to rein in its nuclear arsenal that had expanded under former President Barack Obama.
Talks between the U.S. and North Korea foundered in 2019.
“It is certain that the U.S. chief executive made a big blunder,” Kwon Jong-gun, a North Korean Foreign Ministry senior official, said in a Sunday statement carried by state news media, according to The New York Times.
Kwon said Biden’s statement “clearly reflects his intent to keep enforcing the hostile policy toward” North Korea and the country “will be compelled to press for corresponding measures, and with time the U.S. will find itself in a very grave situation.”
In another statement, an unnamed Foreign Ministry spokesperson said criticizing North Korea’s record on human rights was a provocation indicating the U.S. is “girding itself up for an all-out showdown,” according to Reuters.