SEOUL, June 13 (Yonhap) — North Korea on Saturday blasted a recent joint statement adopted by South Korea and the European Union (EU) that condemned Pyongyang’s military cooperation with Russia, saying it will continue to treat Seoul as “a hostile state.”
In a press statement issued on the state-run Korean Central News Agency, the North Korean foreign ministry said South Korea is “an invariable enemy state obsessed with hostility and confrontation.”
South Korean President Lee Jae Myung and EU leaders adopted their joint statement Wednesday during Lee’s summit talks with Ursula von der Leyen, president of the European Commission, and Antonio Costa, president of the European Council, held at the EU headquarters in Brussels.
The South Korea-EU statement described the North-Russia military cooperation during the war in Ukraine as “illegal” and urged the two countries “to immediately cease all such activities and abide by the United Nations Charter and all relevant United Nations Security Council resolutions.” Lee and EU leaders also expressed “grave concerns” over North Korea’s nuclear and missile programs.
President Lee Jae Myung (C) poses for a photo with Ursula von der Leyen (R), president of the European Commission, and Antonio Costa, president of the European Council, during their summit in Brussels on June 10, 2026. (Yonhap)
In response, the North Korean foreign ministry claimed the joint statement was “a clear infringement on the sovereignty of our state and a grave hostile act.”
It also accused Lee of taking off “the bothersome mask of ‘peace'” and called South Korea “the first enemy state.”
“Whatever the Seoul rulers say and do, the DPRK will deem it a challenge and remain unchanged in its principle of confronting the enemy aimed to definitely treat the ROK as a hostile state,” the North’s ministry said. “It has already been highlighted at home and abroad that the ROK regards hostility and confrontation as its foundation and it cannot exist even a moment without them.”
The DPRK is short for the Democratic People’s Republic of Korea, the North’s official name, while the ROK stands for the Republic of Korea, the South’s official name.
“Through the above-said confrontational declaration, the chief executive of the ROK voluntarily proved before the world that there can never be ‘peaceful coexistence’ between the DPRK and the ROK, and the hostile relations will be maintained between them forever and that the ROK is an accomplice with same ulterior motives as the Ukrainian puppet forces,” the statement also said. “That the chief executive of the ROK displayed his unusual ‘frankness’ shows that he lost his face to resort the deceptive farce about ‘peace declaration’ and ‘theory on two peaceful states’ any more.”
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