North Korea blasts Trump’s $175 billion ‘Golden Dome’ as ‘very dangerous’ outer space war plan

North Korea has strongly criticized former President Donald Trump‘s newly announced missile defense system, calling it a threatening move that could be used for offensive purposes rather than defense.

According to The Washington Post, the ambitious project, dubbed the “Golden Dome,” was revealed by Trump last week as a multibillion-dollar space-based missile defense system that would utilize satellites and weapons to intercept attacks on the United States.

North Korea’s Foreign Ministry’s Institute for American Studies called the plan “a typical product of ‘America first,’ the height of self-righteousness, arrogance, high-handed and arbitrary practice,” describing it as “very dangerous” and a threat to security under the guise of a defense system.

Cost estimates reach up to $542 billion for space-based system

The Congressional Budget Office has projected that deploying and operating just the space-based interceptors could cost between $161 billion and $542 billion over the next two decades, while Trump estimates the total system cost at $175 billion. 

Trump announced that the system could be operational within three years, before the end of his second term if elected. The system is designed to intercept missiles launched from anywhere in the world, including space, with funding included in the budget bill currently under Senate consideration.

North Korea, which has been rapidly expanding its weapons arsenal under Kim Jong Un’s leadership, views the Golden Dome as part of a broader U.S. strategy for “unipolar domination” through space-based military infrastructure. The country has been developing missiles capable of carrying multiple nuclear warheads to overwhelm existing missile defense systems.

The criticism comes amid increasing military cooperation between the United States, Japan, and South Korea. The U.S. has established Space Force units in both Asian nations and launched a joint information system in 2023 for tracking North Korean missile launches. North Korea has consistently opposed these initiatives, viewing them as a threat to regional security and claiming the defense system primarily serves to generate profits for U.S. military contractors.