North Korea on Thursday warned the incoming Donald Trump administration will have to acknowledge it as a Nuclear state, as the South said the maverick billionaire had pledged to protect it. The US maintains it cannot accept North Korea as a Nuclear power, despite it conducting five nuclear tests — including two in 2016 - and has pushed harsh international sanctions against the Pyongyang regime. “If there is anything the Obama administration has done... it has put the security of the US mainland in the greatest danger,” said an editorial carried by North Korea’s ruling party newspaper Rodong Sinmun. But in a phone call with South Korean President Park Geun- Hye on Thursday, Trump vowed that US commitment on protecting its ally against the North “will not waver”.
“We are going to be with you 100 per cent,” Trump said, according to a statement from South Korea’s Blue House. “We will be steadfast and strong with respect to working with you to protect against the instability in North Korea,” Seoul quoted him as saying. North Korea has been hit by five sets of UN sanctions since it first tested a nuclear device in 2006.