North Korea on Monday called U.S. national security adviser John Bolton a "war maniac" who is undermining global security and diplomacy after Bolton accused Pyongyang of violating international law with missile launches earlier this month.
"Our military drill neither targeted anyone nor endangered the surrounding countries, but Bolton makes dogged claims that it constitutes a violation... impudently poking his nose into other's internal matters," a North Korean official said in a statement carried by the state-run Korean Central News Agency (KCNA).
"It is not a mere coincidence that criticisms are now being heard in the U.S. that Bolton is a warmonger whispering war to the president when he himself evaded military service," the statement continued. "After all, it will be fit to call Bolton not a security adviser striving for security but a security-destroying adviser who is wrecking peace and security."
Bolton's claim that North Korea's missile launches violated United Nations Security Council resolutions came Friday in Tokyo, ahead of President Donald Trump's state visit to Japan on Monday.
South Korea was quick to question Bolton's assessment, noting that it is still analyzing the North Korean missiles in partnership with U.S. officials.
"There's no way for us to know why national security adviser Bolton made such comments," an anonymous South Korean presidential official told the Associated Press on Monday. "There's no change in our official stance that the South Korean and U.S. militaries under coordination are continuing to analyze the missiles."
The exchange between Bolton and North Korea comes as Bolton continues to escalate military tensions and threaten regime change in Iran and Venezuela.
The North Korean official alluded to Bolton's belligerence toward those countries in the statement on Monday.
"Bolton stood in the forefront of leading the Iraqi War and abrogating the [Intermediate-Range Nuclear Forces] Treaty that has served to ensure peace in Europe for decades," the statement read, "and he is now gaining notoriety as a warmonger for his obsession with other wars in the Middle East and South America."
