N. Korea bristles at US designation as country not cooperating with counterterrorism efforts
North Korean leader Kim Jong-un inspects anti-aircraft combat and air strike drills by North Korea's 1st Air Division, Thursday, in this photo, published by the Korean Central News Agency, Saturday. Yonhap
North Korea denounced the United States, Saturday, for designating it as a country that does not fully cooperate with Washington's fight against terrorism, warning that further U.S. "provocations" would escalate hostility with Pyongyang.
The North's foreign ministry issued the warning, carried by the Korean Central News Agency (KCNA), days after the U.S. State Department designated the North, along with Cuba, Iran, Syria and Venezuela, as uncooperative in the fight against terrorism.
The ministry decried the designation as a "political provocation," saying that "the more the U.S. provokes the DPRK with unnecessary and inefficient malicious acts, the further it will escalate the irreconcilable hostility between the DPRK and the U.S.," according to its statement dated Friday.
DPRK stands for North Korea's official name, the Democratic People's Republic of Korea.
"The 'anti-terrorism' advocated by the U.S. is nothing but an excuse to justify interference in internal affairs of other countries," the ministry said, adding that "no one has asked the U.S. to lead international anti-terrorist efforts, nor has anyone invested it with such power."
It is North Korea's stance to resolutely oppose all forms of terrorism threatening international peace and security, and Washington's anti-terrorist efforts are irrelevant to Pyongyang's determined fight against terrorism, the ministry said.
"The DPRK will never tolerate any outside attempt to impair and violate the dignity, sovereign rights and security interests of the state but take effective and proper measures to cope with the U.S. hostile provocations in all spheres," the ministry said.