N. Korea warns of fiercer military response to US 'extended deterrence' to its allies

North Korean leader Kim Jong-un speaks during the party's meeting in Pyongyang, Jan. 3. Yonhap

North Korea's foreign minister warned Thursday that Pyongyang will take fiercer military actions if the United States sticks to its campaign for the strengthening of the extended deterrence to its regional allies.

In a statement, Choe Son-hui took issue with an agreement of the leaders of South Korea, the United States and Japan earlier this week to bolster the extended deterrence capabilities, which refer to Washington's readiness to provide Seoul with all necessary options, both nuclear and conventional, to deter aggression or provocation by the North.

North Korean Vice Foreign Minister Choe Son-hui / Korea Times file

"The more the U.S. is bent on strengthening the provision of extended deterrence to its allies, the fiercer our military responses will become in direct proportion to their provocative military activities," Choe stressed in the statement carried by the official Korean Central News Agency (KCNA).

The North's move "will come as a more severe, realistic and inevitable threat" to the U.S. and countries following it, as Washington will get to realize that it is taking a "gamble" that it would regret, she added. (Yonhap)