North Korea tells UN: We will never give up nuclear programme
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North Korea's Vice-Minister for Foreign Affairs Kim Son Gyong said the imposition of denuclearisation on the country is tantamount to demanding it to surrender sovereignty and right to existence.
PHOTO: REUTERS
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NEW YORK - North Korea will never give up its nuclear programme, the country’s Vice-Foreign Minister Kim Son Gyong told the United Nations General Assembly on Sept 29, describing it as “tantamount to demanding it to surrender sovereignty and right to existence”.
It was the first time North Korea had dispatched an official from Pyongyang to address the annual gathering of world leaders for the General Assembly since the country’s foreign minister travelled to New York in 2018.
“Imposition of denuclearisation on the DPRK is tantamount to demanding it to surrender sovereignty and right to existence and violate the Constitution,” said Mr Kim, referring to the country’s formal name, the Democratic People’s Republic of Korea. “We will never give up sovereignty, abandon the right to existence and violate the Constitution.”
“Thanks to our state’s enhanced physical war deterrent in direct proportion to the growing threat of aggression of the US and its allies, the will of the enemy states to provoke a war is thoroughly contained and the balance of power on the Korean peninsula is ensured,” he said.
US President Donald Trump said in August that he wanted to meet North Korean leader Kim Jong Un in 2025. Since Mr Trump’s January inauguration, Mr Kim has ignored Mr Trump’s repeated calls to revive the direct diplomacy he pursued during his 2017 to 2021 term in office, which produced no deal to halt North Korea’s nuclear programme.
‘Never walk away’
However, last week Mr Kim said there was no reason to avoid talks with the US if Washington stopped insisting his country give up nuclear weapons, but he would never abandon the nuclear arsenal to end sanctions, state media reported.
“We will never give up nuclear which is our state law, national policy and sovereign power as well as the right to existence. Under any circumstances, we will never walk away from this position,” the Vice-Foreign Minister told the UN General Assembly.
North Korea has been under UN Security Council sanctions since 2006, and the measures have been steadily strengthened over the years with the aim of halting Pyongyang’s development of nuclear weapons and ballistic missiles.
But Russia and China now insist that UN sanctions on North Korea should be eased on humanitarian grounds and in a bid to convince Pyongyang to restart negotiations.
Russia has also forged closer diplomatic and military ties with North Korea since invading Ukraine in February 2022 and Russian President Vladimir Putin and Kim have visited each other’s countries. Russia is using North Korean troops to battle Ukrainian forces. REUTERS
