1 week Ago By Jack Kim
North Korea's status as a nuclear weapons state can never be reversed, no matter how much the United States and its Asian allies demand it, state media reports. Login or signup to continue reading The comments on Wednesday, which state news agency KCNA said were issued on Tuesday, were likely a response to a joint statement by the foreign ministers of South Korea, Japan and the US made on the sidelines of a NATO meeting last week. The three foreign ministers reaffirmed the "commitment to the complete denuclearisation" of North Korea, according to the joint statement.
The position of the North's nuclear weapons state, together with its "substantial and very strong nuclear deterrent" is a result of outside hostile threat and "it does not change no matter how desperately anyone denies," said Kim Yo-jong, the sister of North Korean leader Kim Jong-un, according to KCNA. "We don't care about anyone's denial and recognition and we never change our option," she said. "This is our steadfast choice that can never be reversed by any physical strength or sly artifice.
" North Korea has pursued nuclear weapons despite sanctions by the United Nations Security Council over the years since it first conducted an underground nuclear detonation test in 2006. Since then, it is believed to have developed an arsenal of nuclear weapons, although it has not conducted an atmospheric nuclear test. It has been a longstanding policy of Washington and its Asian allies to completely dismantle the North's nuclear program, but analysts believe Pyongyang has gone beyond the point of agreeing to any deal to achieve that.
US President Donald Trump has called the North a "nuclear power" and suggested he would again sit down with its leader Kim Jong-un, with whom he had unprecedented summit meetings during his first term trying to ease security tensions. Australian Associated Press Daily Today's top stories curated by our news team. Also includes evening update.
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