North Korea condemns NATO summit, says denuclearisation should start with US allies
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North Korean leader Kim Jong Un speaking at a meeting of the Ninth Central Committee of the Workers’ Party of Korea in Pyongyang in June.
PHOTO: REUTERS
- North Korea criticised NATO for increasing military spending and cooperation, accusing it of promoting confrontation and threatening peace in Europe and Asia-Pacific.
- Pyongyang rejected denuclearisation demands, stating that efforts should start with US allies and countries like South Korea and Japan pursuing nuclear capabilities.
- North Korea announced plans to strengthen and modernise its nuclear forces to protect its sovereignty and regional security, following leader Kim Jong Un's directives.
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SEOUL – North Korea condemned the United States and its allies on July 11 for what it called strengthening military blocs and accelerating arms build-up after a NATO summit this week.
Pyongyang accused NATO leaders of portraying North Korea’s exercise of its legitimate sovereign rights as a threat, the foreign ministry said in a statement carried on state media KCNA.
The alliance demonstrated a stronger commitment to bloc-to-bloc confrontation through increased arms spending and closer military cooperation with allies in the Asia-Pacific region, the ministry said.
At the NATO summit in Turkey on July 7, officials announced more than US$50 billion (S$65 billion) in military procurement and industrial agreements as European allies face continued pressure from US President Donald Trump to shoulder a greater share of the alliance’s defence burden.
President Lee Jae Myung of Pyongyang’s rival South Korea said on the sidelines of the summit that he hoped Seoul would expand cooperation with NATO allies in research and development, including in cutting-edge technologies, and in the production of weapons systems.
North Korea said the summit showed that NATO was a body geared towards war and confrontation, pursuing what Pyongyang described as exclusive geopolitical interests at the expense of peace and security in Europe and the Asia-Pacific.
Pyongyang, which says a push by the West for it to abandon nuclear weapons has been irreversibly terminated, believes instead that denuclearisation efforts should focus first on what it described as attempts by South Korea and Japan to pursue their own nuclear weapons under US protection, as well as the nuclear ambitions of NATO members participating in the alliance’s nuclear-sharing arrangements, the ministry said.
It said North Korea would safeguard its sovereignty and security interests, as well as regional peace, through the responsible exercise of its sovereign rights.
KCNA said on July 10 that North Korea had decided on measures to strengthen its nuclear forces “quantitatively and qualitatively” as leader Kim Jong Un calls for modernising its military. REUTERS
