North Korea condemns U.S. arms sales to South Korea as 'irresponsible' and 'military tension-provoking'

North Korea has strongly denounced the United States' approval of arms sales to South Korea, labeling it an "irresponsible arms deal" that escalates military tensions on the Korean Peninsula and beyond. The condemnation came from a deputy director of the General Equipment Bureau of the Ministry of National Defense in a statement to the Korean Central News Agency.

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This U.S. arms sale approval to South Korea is part of its 'defense strategy' to bolster its conventional forces, which bear the primary responsibility for deterring North Korea, and signals a change in the U.S. military's role and the regional military tension that will result.

Pyongyang asserted that the U.S. arms sales, which include Joint Direct Attack Munitions (JDAMs) and related equipment, are part of Seoul's "defense strategy" to strengthen its conventional forces and assume primary responsibility for deterring North Korea. This move, according to the statement, signals a change in the U.S. military's role and foreshadows increased regional military tension.

The North Korean official highlighted that military equipment being transferred to U.S. allies in Asia, including South Korea, possesses "obvious offensive capabilities" across various domains. The statement cited recent U.S. approvals for sales of GBU-39 small-diameter bombs, MH-60R multi-mission helicopters, and parts for AH-64E Apache attack helicopters to South Korea, as well as U.S. cooperation on South Korea's potential acquisition of nuclear submarines.

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The military equipment being transferred from the United States to its allied countries in Asia is comprehensively covering the forward-all-round areas of ground, sea, underwater and air and is clearly offensive in nature.

Furthermore, the statement mentioned U.S. arms sales to Taiwan, including HIMARS rocket systems and Javelin anti-tank missiles, and Japan, involving long-range cruise missiles like the Tomahawk. North Korea argued that these "reckless arms sales" and the "frenzied military buildup" by allies, driven by U.S. "irresponsible" policies aimed at preemptive strikes, are the primary factors destabilizing the region and heightening military tensions.

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The irresponsible arms sales by the United States and the frenzied military buildup of its allies through them, which are increasingly oriented towards realizing strategic and tactical intentions of surprise and preemptive strikes, are the fundamental factors creating instability and escalating military tensions in the Korean Peninsula and its surrounding areas.

In response, North Korea declared that it will "resolutely block" any attempts to create power imbalances in the region through accelerated updates to its "self-defensive deterrence." The country vowed to continuously make adversaries recognize that their "irresponsible arms deals and military buildup" are futile and meaningless.

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In response to the military buildup activities of adversarial countries that far exceed their defensive limits, it is a top priority task for the armament equipment sector of the Ministry of National Defense to explore all possible military technical measures in symmetric and asymmetric fields.