North Korea hits Trump decision to withdraw from Paris climate deal

North Korea on Tuesday criticized President Trump’s decision to pull the United States out of the Paris climate change agreement.

Pyongyang said in a statement that the decision represented “the height of egoism and moral vacuum seeking only their own well-being, even at the cost of the entire planet,” CNN reported.

“The selfish act of the U.S. does not only have grave consequences for the international efforts to protect the environment but poses great danger to other areas as well,” a spokesman for the North Korean Ministry of Foreign Affairs said, according to state news agency KCNA.

{mosads}Trump last week rejected the Paris climate change agreement, calling it “unfair at the highest level to the United States.”

Trump cast his decision as one that puts the United States first, a central theme of his presidential campaign.

“In order to fulfill my solemn duty to protect America and its citizens, the United States will withdraw from the Paris climate accord,” Trump said in a sunny outdoor ceremony at the White House Rose Garden.

“The bottom line is that the Paris accord is very unfair at the highest level to the United States,” Trump said.

Tensions between Washington and Pyongyang have heightened in recent months amid growing concerns that the reclusive North Korean government is nearing development of a nuclear-tipped missile capable of posing a threat to the U.S.