North Korea turns on South Korea's Lee after Seoul and the EU reject Pyongyang’s nuclear status, condemn military ties with Moscow

North Korea accused South Korean President Lee Jae Myung of casting aside “the bothersome mask of peace,” a sharp shift from its description of him as “a broad-minded person” just two months ago.

The remarks came on Saturday in response to a joint statement issued by South Korea and the European Union (EU) during its recent summit held on Wednesday, in which both sides agreed that North Korea “will never be accepted as a nuclear-weapon State.”

The rebuke stood in stark contrast to Pyongyang’s rhetoric just two months ago, when Kim Jong-un reportedly called Lee a “frank and broad-minded” person in a positive light.

North Korea is deliberately employing a mix of pressure and engagement tactics to shape Seoul’s behavior, some analysts say.

On Saturday, the North Korean Foreign Ministry likened South Korea to "an invariable enemy state obsessed with hostility and confrontation,” according to the state-run Korean Central News Agency. It also said the South Korean president has now thrown off the “bothersome mask of peace.”

A spokesperson from the North's Foreign Ministry labeled the joint statement with the EU and Lee’s recent trip to Europe as "a clear infringement on the sovereignty of our state and a grave hostile act.”

“Through the […] confrontational declaration [with the EU], the chief executive of the ROK voluntarily proved before the world that there can never be 'peaceful coexistence' between the DPRK and the ROK,” the North Korean official said. DPRK stands for North Korea's official name, the Democratic Republic of Korea, while ROK refers to the Republic of Korea, South Korea's official name.

“The hostile relations will be maintained between [two Koreas] forever and [it also proved that] the ROK is an accomplice with the same ulterior motives as the Ukrainian puppet forces," the regime's Foreign Ministry spokesperson added.

“That the chief executive of the ROK displayed his unusual 'frankness' shows that he lost his face to resort [to] the deceptive farce about 'peace declaration' and 'theory on two peaceful states' anymore,” the regime’s statement reads.

Earlier, in a joint statement issued at the South Korea-EU summit held in Brussels on Wednesday, Lee and EU leaders declared that “The DPRK will never be accepted as a nuclear-weapon State under the NPT or have any other special status in that regard.” The NPT refers to the Treaty on the Non-Proliferation of Nuclear Weapons.

The statement also included a message directed to both Moscow and Pyongyang “We strongly condemn Russia-DPRK illegal military cooperation.”

Under the regime leader Kim’s policy of “hostile two states,” North Korea has largely ignored Seoul’s calls for peaceful coexistence while responding selectively to issues it considers advantageous.

In April, Pyongyang immediately reacted favorably when Lee publicly expressed regret over allegations that the previous Yoon Suk Yeol administration had sent drones into North Korea.

“It is very fortunate that President Lee directly expressed regret and mentioned measures to prevent a recurrence, and our government views this as a wise decision for himself,” said Kim Yo-jong, the powerful sister of North Korean leader Kim Jong-un and a department director of the country's ruling party. “Our state leader evaluated this as showing the attitude of a frank and broad-minded person."

Although the remarks were issued under Kim Yo-jong’s name, they were widely interpreted as Kim Jong-un’s first positive message directed at Lee. Just two months later, however, North Korea sharply reversed course with antagonistic language that accused Lee of wearing the “bothersome mask" of seeking peace.

Such a move appears to be an effort to block Seoul’s attempt to seek international cooperation to denuclearize Pyongyang.

Although Pyongyang readily welcomes developments it sees as beneficial, such as expressions of regret over alleged drone incursions, it relentlessly contends that its nuclear programs and military cooperation with Moscow are the result of actions triggered by Seoul and Washington.

Analysts believe this approach may also aim to stoke political divisions among South Koreans and pressure the South’s authorities to accommodate the regime’s interests.

The statement also disparaged South Korea as “the No. 1 hostile state” and a "dagger" of the United States. The rhetoric appears intended to reinforce Pyongyang’s “hostile two states” doctrine.

The fact that the latest statement was attributed to a spokesperson for the Foreign Ministry’s Department 10 may itself be significant, observers say, as it seemingly suggests that inter-Korean affairs are handled only at the level of a working-level bureau within the Foreign Ministry.

In the same vein, on Sunday, the North’s state media released another statement from its Foreign Ministry criticizing the latest meeting of the U.S.-ROK Nuclear Consultative Group (NCG), held in Seoul on Thursday, where the two allies confirmed their shared goal of denuclearizing North Korea.

“It is an unreasonable talk and fantastic daydream to mention about disarming the other belligerent party's nuclear weapons," the North Korean Foreign Ministry spokesperson said in a statement carried by the KCNA.

Meanwhile, the South Korea-U.S. military’s tabletop “Iron Mace” exercise, a drill to integrate nuclear and conventional operations, appears to have evolved into a semiannual fixture.

South Korean and U.S. military authorities recently conducted the first Iron Mace exercise of the year behind closed doors, according to multiple government sources on Sunday. The drill was reportedly scaled back significantly from last year’s edition due to the ongoing Iran war. The two sides are reportedly discussing plans for a second exercise later this year.

The concept of conventional-nuclear integration (CNI) envisions South Korea supporting a U.S. nuclear retaliation operation with conventional military capabilities in the case of a contingency on the Korean Peninsula.

Iron Mace marked the first effort to develop the CNI concept into a bilateral military exercise. Since its inaugural run in July 2024, the exercise has been conducted twice last year in April and September.

Further development of the CNI concept could help make U.S. extended-deterrence commitments more visible and concrete, even after the transfer of wartime operational control — a key military initiative in the Lee administration. The Lee administration’s policy agenda also includes a plan to develop the CNI concept into an “operational-level framework.”

BY LEE YU-JUNG [lee.soojung1@joongang.co.kr]