North Korea’s state media accused the United States of “expanding wars” after President Donald Trump signed an executive order to reduce rules and regulations on arms exports.
The White House did not immediately respond to Newsweek’s request for comment.
The Context
The nuclear-armed North Korea is often outspoken in criticizing Washington’s policies, including those that are not directly related to the Korean Peninsula. The country’s leader, Kim Jong Un, previously blamed the U.S. for extending the Russia-Ukraine War by supporting Kyiv.
What To Know
On April 9, Trump issued an executive order titled “Reforming Foreign Defense Sales to Improve Speed and Accountability,” which called for easing rules and regulations involved in foreign defense sales to “ensure alignment with United States foreign policy objectives.”
The state-run Korean Central News Agency on Sunday published a commentary, saying the Trump administration’s measure to ease arms export regulations “means the one to expand wars,” which aimed at supporting the realization of its “hegemony-seeking” foreign policy.
The commentary referred to the wars in Ukraine and Gaza, saying the U.S. has resorted to the provision of “war hardware” under the pretext of improving allies’ security, with most of the exported arms flowing into the hands of “war maniacs” in Europe and the Middle East.
In this June 30, 2019, file photo United States President Donald Trump, right, listens as North Korean leader Kim Jong Un speaks during their bilateral meeting inside the Freedom House at the border village of…
In this June 30, 2019, file photo United States President Donald Trump, right, listens as North Korean leader Kim Jong Un speaks during their bilateral meeting inside the Freedom House at the border village of Panmunjom in the Demilitarized Zone, South Korea.
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Susan Walsh/AP Photo
Ukraine was the world’s largest arms importer from 2020 to 2024, while the U.S. accounted for 43 percent of global arms exports in the same period, making it the largest arms exporter in the world, the Stockholm International Peace Research Institute reported in March.
Weapons provided by the U.S. to Ukraine and Israel during the wars ranged from missiles to bombs to fighter jets. Trump had ordered a brief pause on military aid to Ukraine after a disastrous meeting with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky at the White House.
America’s arms sales have injected what he Korean Central News Agency called “vitality” into “the servants who resort to reckless military acts,” urging the international community not to overlook Washington’s “attempt to make the world more disturbing.”
Reforming the foreign defense sales system would strengthen the security capabilities of allies and invigorate the U.S. defense industrial base, Trump said in the executive order.
What People Are Saying
The Korean Central News Agency said: “Amid the continuous massacres and destructions threatening peace and stability in different parts of the world caused by the U.S., the chieftain of aggression, it is as clear as noonday that when more U.S.-made lethal weapons will be handed over to the proxy war forces as the U.S. eases the regulations on exporting military hardware, what consequences will be entailed by it.”
An executive order signed by U.S. President Donald Trump read: “The United States must maintain the world’s strongest and most technologically advanced military through a dynamic defense industrial base, coupled with a robust network of capable partners and allies. A rapid and transparent foreign defense sales system that enables effective defense cooperation between the United States and our chosen partners is foundational to these objectives.”
What Happens Next
The U.S. has sold arms to South Korea and Japan, which are its treaty allies that face threats from North Korea. It remains to be seen whether Washington will export additional military equipment to Seoul and Tokyo as it is pushing allies to increase their defense spending.