Pro-Pyongyang paper takes note of omission of N. Korea from US security strategy report

North Korean leader Kim Jong-un, right, stands face to face with U.S. President Donald Trump during their meeting at the Demilitarized Zone separating the two Koreas in this 2019 photo. Yonhap

A pro-Pyongyang newspaper on Thursday took note of the omission of North Korean issues from a recent security strategy roadmap released by the Donald Trump administration, calling it the "most notable" aspect.

"What is the most notable part is the fact that it does not mention" North Korea, the Japan-based Choson Sinbo said in an editorial in its Thursday edition, assessing the recent National Security Strategy (NSS) released in early December.

This year's NSS, which serves as a new strategic roadmap for the United States, made no mention of North Korea or its nuclear issues in a major departure from previous editions, raising questions in Seoul about whether the issue may be put on the back burner under the Trump administration.

It must be "because mentioning North Korea would mean the U.S. is admitting a complete failure in its policy to denuclearize the Korean Peninsula," the newspaper said.

The news outlet, run by a Japan-based Korean organization sympathetic to North Korea, is widely seen as reflecting the regime's official stance.

Thursday's editorial marks the newspaper's second reaction to the NSS, while North Korea's state media has issued no response so far.

In an article last Friday, the paper claimed the NSS portrays a U.S. vision of turning itself from the "world police" into a "fortress America," accusing the country of pursuing an isolationist policy.

The news outlet claimed that the latest NSS carried little international security analysis but was filled with the U.S.-first policy, calling it "self-contradictory" and "factually distorting."

It also accused the NSS of casting Trump's image as a "peacemaker," calling it a "too exaggerated assessment."