FILE PHOTO: A North Korean flag flutters at the propaganda village of Gijungdong in North Korea, in this picture taken near the truce village of Panmunjom inside the demilitarized zone (DMZ) separating the two Koreas, South Korea, July 19, 2022. REUTERS/Kim Hong-Ji/Pool/File Photo
SEOUL (Reuters) -North Korea on Monday criticised U.S. Secretary of State Marco Rubio for calling it a "rogue state" in a media interview, saying his comments do not help U.S. interests, state media KCNA said.
North Korea's foreign ministry said the country will respond strongly to hostile U.S. provocations, KCNA reported.
It is North Korea's first criticism of the Trump administration since President Donald Trump reentered the White House on Jan. 20, Yonhap news agency said.
The ministry also condemned United States' new missile defence shield plan, saying that it makes it necessary for North Korea to strengthen its own military power, KCNA reported.
Trump last week signed an order that "mandated a process to develop an 'American Iron Dome,'" a next-generation U.S. missile defence shield against ballistic, hypersonic, cruise missile and other forms of aerial attack.
"The idea of a new missile defence system, which recalls the spectre of the dangerous 'Star Wars' plan of... the Cold War, poses a risk of justifying an arms race under the pretext of coping with the 'threat' of adversaries, regardless of its feasibility," North Korea's foreign ministry said, according to KCNA.
"The increasingly harsh global security environment urgently calls for us to constantly develop self-defence capabilities based on nuclear deterrence."
(Reporting by Joyce Lee; Editing by Sandra Maler)
