The Democratic People's Republic of Korea (DPRK) has slammed a joint declaration between the Republic of Korea (ROK) and the United States, saying it will put the peace and security of Northeast Asia at greater risk.

As one of the outcomes of ROK President Yoon Suk-yeol's visit to the U.S., the so-called Washington Declaration, issued on April 26, says that the U.S. will upgrade what it calls "extended deterrence" it provides to the ROK, including enhanced consultation over a nuclear crisis.

In response, Kim Yo Jong, a senior official of the DPRK, said on Friday that the ROK-U.S. declaration would only expose the peace and security of Northeast Asia and the world to more serious danger, adding that it is "an act that can thus never be welcome," according to the official Korean Central News Agency (KCNA).

Under the Washington Declaration, U.S. and the ROK agree to increase military exercises and training activities, conduct table-top simulation, establish a new Nuclear Consultative Group, and expand the U.S. regular visibility of strategic assets to the Korean Peninsula. Sources also said the U.S. side is planning to deploy a strategic nuclear submarine in waters off the Korean Peninsula.

Kim, also vice department director of the Central Committee of the Workers' Party of Korea and younger sister of DPRK's top leader Kim Jong Un, said her country would take more "decisive" countermeasures as a result of the new security environment, according to the KCNA.

(Cover: File of Kim Yo Jong, a senior official of the Democratic People's Republic of Korea. /CFP)