North Korea threatens ‘powerful response’ to US arms deal with South Korea

North Korea has condemned US plans to supply South Korea with tactical missiles and fund projects monitoring human rights abuses in the country, warning of a “powerful response” to what Pyongyang described as Washington’s hostile actions. The US state department said it had approved the possible sale of AIM-9X Sidewinder Block II missiles and related equipment to South Korea at an estimated cost of $125m. North Korea’s foreign ministry said the weapons sale would have an “adverse effect” on regional security, according to a statement carried by the state-run Korean Central News Agency. Pyongyang also criticised Washington’s plans to provide millions of dollars to programmes documenting human rights abuses and increasing the flow of information into North Korea. The US state department’s Bureau of Democracy, Human Rights, and Labor last week opened a competition for organisations to document rights violations in North Korea and “challenge [North Korea]’s information monopoly”. North Korea accused Washington of a “persistence and sequence of hostile moves”, saying the measures sought to create “instability in the social system of our state”. It warned that North Korea “will make a serious, immediate and powerful response to the hostile acts”. The warning comes despite recent attempts by US President Donald Trump to reopen dialogue with Pyongyang, including scaling back joint military exercises with South Korea. North Korea has so far responded coolly to the overtures. The two Koreas remain technically at war, with the 1950-53 conflict ending in an armistice rather than a peace treaty.