North Korea blasts South Korea’s Lee as ‘confrontation maniac’

State media hits out at South Korean leader following speech on nuclear disarmament and security alliance with US.

North Korea has branded South Korean President Lee Jae-myung a “confrontation maniac” after a speech in the United States in which he urged efforts to denuclearise the Korean Peninsula.

In a speech following a meeting with US President Donald Trump on Monday, Lee said denuclearisation was crucial to securing a permanent peace between the Koreas and would allow the South Korea-US alliance to be upgraded in a “global context”.

On Wednesday, the state-run Korean Central News Agency (KCNA) hit out at the South Korean leader, saying his speech had revealed his “true colours as a hypocrite to the whole world”.

“His behaviour abroad clearly proved that the ROK’s [Republic of Korea] scheme for confrontation with the DPRK [Democratic People’s Republic of Korea] can never change,” the KCNA said in an unsigned commentary, using the acronyms for the official names of South Korea and North Korea.