Critics Of US-Australia, North Korea Nuclear Submarine Deal: We Will Take Countermeasures If Impacted

Ilustrasi kapal selam Australia HMAS Sheean (SSG 77). (Wikimedia Commons/Petty Officer 3rd Class Diana Quinlan)

JAKARTA - North Korea's Foreign Ministry criticized the United States' new alliance in the Indo-Pacific, as well as a nuclear submarine contract for Australia that could trigger a nuclear arms race in the region.

The US together with Britain and Australia last Wednesday announced a joint security alliance in the Indo-Pacific, building a strategic partnership between the three countries that have been in the spotlight of various parties.

"This is a highly undesirable and dangerous act, disrupting the strategic balance in the Asia-Pacific region, triggering a chain of the nuclear arms race", North Korean state media KCNA quoted a foreign ministry official as saying, citing CNA Monday, September 20.

"This shows that the US is the main actor in overthrowing the international nuclear non-proliferation system", said the Head of Foreign news at the ministry's Press and Information Department.

Last Wednesday, nuclear-armed North Korea fired two missiles into the sea, with South Korea also successfully conducting a test launch of a submarine ballistic missile hours later, becoming the seventh country in the world with the technology.

A spate of missile tests and defense deals in the Pacific has highlighted a regional arms race that is intensifying as the Sino-US rivalry grows rapidly.

"It is natural that neighboring countries, including China, condemn this act as an irresponsible act that destroys regional peace and stability", the North Korean official said.

US President Joe Biden's new Australia-US-UK defense alliance is widely seen as aimed at countering the rise of China.

"The stance of the US double agreement has become increasingly clear after the emergence of a new government, eroding universally accepted international norms and order and seriously threatening world peace and stability", the North Korean ministry official said.

The official added, "North Korea will definitely take appropriate countermeasures if it has the slightest impact on the security of our country".