N. Korea warns of ‘retaliatory response’ over S. Korea-U.S.-Japan’s summit agreement

North Korea warned Tuesday that trilateral security cooperation among South Korea, the United States and Japan would prompt more “retaliatory responses,” days after the leaders of the three nations decided to establish a secretariat to bolster three-way cooperation.

The North’s official Korean Central News Agency (KCNA) carried the message in a commentary after President Yoon Suk Yeol, U.S. President Joe Biden and Japanese Prime Minister Shigeru Ishiba issued a joint statement in Lima last week, announcing the establishment of the secretariat.

North Korea criticized the decision as deepening the roots of confrontation on the Korean Peninsula and in the Asia-Pacific region, claiming the U.S. attempts to “seize political and military control” through a military bloc that has evolved into a “nuclear alliance.”

It warned that the decision would lead to the habitualization of strong retaliatory responses from North Korea.

North Korea derided the “era of trilateral partnership” touted by Seoul, Washington and Tokyo, saying it is turning into “an era of trilateral ruin.” It also claimed that all three leaders who devised it at their Camp David summit in August last year have “completely lost” public support.

It claimed that one of them has already been ousted from the prime ministership, another is scheduled to step down as president soon, while the third is at risk of impeachment.

“The miserable fates of those who took the first step toward trilateral cooperation demonstrate that ‘the era of trilateral cooperation’ is a grim era with no future,” the KCNA said.