'BIG BLUNDER': North Korea lashes out at Biden
North Korea has warned the United States will face "a very grave situation" after President Joe Biden "made a big blunder" in his recent speech.
In his first address to Congress last week, Biden said North Korea's nuclear programs presented "serious threats" to American and world security.
"We're going to be working closely with our allies to address the threats posed by [North Korea] through diplomacy as well as stern deterrence," he said.
In response to Biden's comments, a North Korean official said he had made a "big blunder".
"His statement clearly reflects his intent to keep enforcing the hostile policy toward the [Democratic People's Republic of Korea] as it had been done by the US for over half a century," senior North Korean Foreign Ministry official Kwon Jong Gun said in a statement.
"It is certain that the US chief executive made a big blunder in the light of the present-day viewpoint.
"Now that the keynote of the US new DPRK policy has become clear, we will be compelled to press for corresponding measures, and with time the US will find itself in a very grave situation."
Kwon did not address what steps North Korea would take but his statement could be seen as an effort to apply pressure on the Biden administration as it's shaping up its North Korea policy.
On Friday the White House said administration officials completed a review of US policy towards North Korea, claiming the president planned to veer from the approaches of his two most recent predecessors as he tried to stop North Korea's nuclear program.
"Our goal remains the complete denuclearisation of the Korean Peninsula," press secretary Jen Psaki told reporters.
"With a clear understanding that the efforts of the past four administrations have not achieved this objective, our policy will not focus on achieving a grand bargain, nor will it rely on strategic patience."
North Korea's first challenge to Biden
In March, Kim Jong-un issued his first challenge to Biden as North Korea fired two short-range missiles.
The launches, which were first reported by the Washington Post, came after North Korea declined to engage with repeated behind-the-scenes US diplomatic overtures by President Biden's administration.
The firing of the missiles came a week after US intelligence suspected North Korea was preparing its first weapons test since Biden's inauguration.
Bruce Klingner, a senior research fellow at think tank The Heritage Foundation, told CNN North Korea had previously launched missiles after new administrations took power in the US and South Korea.
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Missiles were fired by North Korea in 2017 after former president Donald Trump took office as well as 2009 when Barack Obama was inaugurated.
"The idea was to 'train them like a dog', a North Korean defector told me," Mr Klingner told CNN.
"So history would indicate they'd do something in the first few months of a Biden administration as well."
Before the missiles were fired, Mr Klingner said if North Korea took that action it would be "perfectly predictable".
with AAP
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