SEOUL - North Korea will step up its “military deterrence” against South Korea and the United States, said state media on Sunday, according to South Korea’s Yonhap news agency.

In an English commentary, the Korean Central News Agency (KCNA) criticised South Korean President Yoon Suk-yeol’s state visit to the US last week for a summit, saying the agreement to strengthen the US extended deterrence – referring to the ability of the US military to deter attacks on US allies – was a “product of heinous hostile policy” against Pyongyang.

The Korea Herald said the agency called the state visit “the most hostile, aggressive and provocative trip and a dangerous one for a nuclear war”.

As part of new efforts with Seoul to counter Pyongyang’s nuclear build-up, a new “Washington Declaration” was announced. Under this, the US will give South Korea detailed insights into, and a voice in US contingency planning to deter and respond to any nuclear incident in the region through a US-ROK Nuclear Consultative Group. The South’s formal name is Republic of Korea.

KCNA said: “The Washington Declaration on raising the practicality of the ‘extended deterrence’ provided by the US is a typical product of the heinous hostile policy towards the DPRK.” DPRK, or Democratic People’s Republic of Korea, is the North’s official name.

“Anyone can know well that they are making a nuclear war against the DPRK a fait accompli,” it said.

During Mr Yoon’s state visit, US President Joe Biden had – for the first time – talked about ending the North’s regime. “A nuclear attack by North Korea against the United States or its allies or our partners is unacceptable, and will result in the end of whatever regime were to take such an action,” he said at the White House, alongside Mr Yoon.

KCNA called such remarks “frantic and reckless”, adding: “Under such situation, it is quite natural for the DPRK to bolster up its military deterrence corresponding to the grave security environment of the present and the future.”

It also said the joint statement, which pledges stronger nuclear deterrence against the North’s threats and beefing up cooperation between the US, South Korea and Japan, is identical with “a dangerous nuclear war plot putting up the signboard of security”.

“Through this, the US and the South Korean puppets have made their scheme for invasion against the DPRK more clear,” KCNA said. “The dangerous nuclear war moves of the US and the puppet group running amok in stifling the DPRK while denying the existence of the DPRK can never be pardoned, and they will have to pay dearly for their rash acts.”

On Saturday, Ms Kim Yo Jong – the influential sister of North Korean leader Kim Jong Un – condemned the Washington Declaration as reflecting “the most hostile and aggressive will of action” by Seoul and Washington.

Ms Kim – the face of the pressure campaign against the US and South Korea – added that while the two countries bring more nuclear assets into the region, North Korea will respond by boosting its arsenal “in direct proportion to it”.

According to Bloomberg, North Korea has fired 17 ballistic missiles in 2023, including three intercontinental ballistic missiles designed to deliver a nuclear warhead to the US mainland. The country fired over 70 ballistic missiles in 2022, a record for the state.