NKorea warns U.S. over Biden’s speech

SEOUL, South Korea — North Korea on Sunday warned that the United States will face “a very grave situation” and alleged that President Joe Biden “made a big blunder” in his recent speech by calling the North a security threat.

Last week, Biden, in his first address to Congress, called North Korea and Iran’s nuclear programs “serious threats” to American and world security and said he’ll work with allies to address those problems through diplomacy and stern deterrence.

“His statement clearly reflects his intent to keep enforcing the hostile policy toward the DPRK [Democratic People’s Republic of Korea] as it had been done by the U.S. for over half a century,” Kwon Jong Gun, a senior North Korean Foreign Ministry official, said in a statement.

“It is certain that the U.S. chief executive made a big blunder in the light of the present-day viewpoint,” Kwon said. “Now that the keynote of the U.S. new DPRK policy has become clear, we will be compelled to press for corresponding measures, and with time the U.S. will find itself in a very grave situation.”

Kwon still didn’t specify what steps North Korea would take, and his statement could be seen as an effort to apply pressure on the Biden administration as it’s shaping up its North Korea policy.

Biden’s national security adviser, Jake Sullivan, said Sunday that U.S. policy is “not aimed at hostility, it’s aimed at solutions” and at “ultimately achieving the complete denuclearization of the Korean Peninsula.”