The North Korean government lashed out at the U.S. and South Korea on Sunday, warning that it would “respond accordingly” to what it calls the Biden administration’s “hostile intent.” Biden’s comments on human rights in North Korea are a provocation and signal that the U.S. is “girding itself up for an all-out showdown,” according to a statement from the North Korean foreign ministry carried on the state news agency KCNA. In another statement released Sunday, Kwon Jong Gun, director general of the Department of U.S. Affairs of the North Korean Foreign Ministry, said it is “illogical and an encroachment upon North Korea’s right to self-defense for the United States to call its defensive deterrence a threat.” Kwon went on to say that as the Biden policy becomes clear, North Korea will “be compelled to press for corresponding measures, and with time the U.S. will find itself in a very grave situation.”
