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North Korea on Monday rejected the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) Regional Forum’s renewed call for the complete denuclearization of the Korean Peninsula, calling it a “foolish attempt” and declaring its status as a nuclear weapons state “final and irreversible.”
Kim Yo Jong, a senior official of the ruling Workers’ Party of Korea and the sister of North Korean leader Kim Jong Un, condemned the chair’s statement issued after the forum’s recent foreign ministers’ meeting in the Philippines.
In a statement carried by North Korea’s state-run Korean Central News Agency (KCNA), Kim accused the forum of adopting a hostile position by supporting the U.S. approach to denuclearization while disregarding North Korea’s constitution.
North Korea formally enshrined its nuclear status in its constitution in 2023.
“The act of the U.S. and its vassal forces to change the status of the DPRK as a nuclear weapons state ... is nothing but a foolish attempt,” Kim said, using the acronym for North Korea’s official name, the Democratic People’s Republic of Korea.
Kim expressed “strong dissatisfaction with the forum’s undisguised hostile attitude of going along with the U.S. trumpeting about ‘denuclearization’” and ignoring the country’s constitutional status, according to KCNA.
She said the concept of denuclearizing the Korean Peninsula had lost both its practical and conceptual meaning.
“It is a failure in strategic thinking and logic and a manifestation of a stupid and foolish wild dream to still adhere to the ‘denuclearization of the Korean Peninsula,’ which had already lost its meaning conceptually and practically,” she said.
Kim also said ASEAN should guard against “being misused as a hired mouthpiece for the U.S.” and instead focus on its role in promoting regional peace and security.
Kim described North Korea’s nuclear deterrence as the “ultimate shield” for protecting the country’s sovereignty.
She pledged that Pyongyang would continue strengthening its nuclear capabilities “without a momentary stagnation.”
At the ASEAN Regional Forum last week, the organization expressed “grave concern” over North Korea’s continued development of nuclear weapons and ballistic missile programs.
The forum’s chair statement reiterated support for the complete denuclearization of the Korean Peninsula and stressed the importance of dialogue to achieve lasting peace and stability.
North Korea has long asserted its right to maintain nuclear weapons and ballistic missile programs, although both are prohibited under U.N. Security Council sanctions.
In June, Kim described North Korea’s nuclear weapons program as “the line of no retreat.”
Pyongyang has repeatedly declared itself an irreversible nuclear state since the 2019 summit between Kim Jong Un and U.S. President Donald Trump collapsed over the scope of denuclearization and sanctions relief.
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