Korea raps USA for ‘rogue state’ label

In this June 30, 2019 file photo, President Donald Trump meets with North Korean leader Kim Jong Un at the border village of Panmunjom in the Demilitarized Zone, South Korea
North Korea slammed United States of America and its Foreign Minister or Secretary of State as the Americans like to call, for characterizing the country as a “rogue state” and vowed “tough counteraction” to any provocation from the United States, the North Korean media said Monday.
It is the first time that North Korean authorities have criticized a U.S. Cabinet member Marco Rubio by name since President Donald Trump was sworn in for his second term on Jan. 20.
North Korea’s Foreign Ministry deems the U.S. secretary of state’s remarks made during a recent interview “to thoughtlessly tarnish the image of a sovereign state as a grave political provocation,” the official Korean Central News Agency said, citing a press statement by a spokesman dated Sunday.
“The hostile words and deeds of the person who is in charge of the U.S. foreign policy served as an occasion of confirming once again the U.S. hostile policy toward the DPRK which remains unchanged,” the statement said.
DPRK is the acronym for the Democratic People’s Republic of Korea, North Korea’s official name.
The statement also said Rubio’s speech “is nothing new,” in view of his “political inclination and the U.S. inveterate repugnancy towards the DPRK,” and “would be more surprising if he had said (a) good word about the DPRK.”
“We will never tolerate any provocation of the U.S., which has been always hostile to the DPRK and will be hostile to it in the future, too, but will take tough counteraction corresponding to it as usual,” it said.