US Calls for Denuclearisation, North Korea Insists Nuclear Status Is Unalterable

North Korea has stated that its status as a nuclear-weapons state is ‘unalterable’. Pyongyang asserted that this status is key to ensuring regional stability, whilst rejecting calls for denuclearisation from the United States and its allies. The statement from North Korea came after a trilateral meeting between South Korea, Japan, and the United States in Tokyo on Friday. During that meeting, the US allies reaffirmed their commitment to the ‘complete denuclearisation of the Korean Peninsula’, according to Seoul’s Foreign Ministry. ‘The meaningless rhetoric of the US and its subordinate forces against the DPRK… will never affect the unalterable position of the DPRK as a nuclear weapons state,’ an unnamed spokesperson said in a statement published by the official Korean Central News Agency (KCNA). ‘’Denuclearisation’ is a matter that has been permanently settled,’ the spokesperson added. The North Korean spokesperson also cited the sale of US weapons systems to South Korea and Japan as justification for Pyongyang’s pursuit of its nuclear programme. North Korea described it as a ‘powerful security guarantee for regional stability and peace’. ‘No matter how hard the US, Japan, and the ROK may argue, they will never change the current position of the DPRK as a nuclear weapons state,’ the official said, referring to South Korea by the acronym of its official name. North Korea has accelerated its nuclear weapons programme since talks with Washington collapsed in 2019, when a summit between Kim and US President Donald Trump in Hanoi ended without a deal. In a possible reference to the failed negotiations, the spokesperson said ‘nothing can bring back the ’denuclearisation’ that has been permanently lost in the trend of the times’. Separately, Kim Jong Un recently hosted Chinese President Xi Jinping in Pyongyang, after the Chinese leader held consecutive summits in Beijing with Trump and Putin. According to their state media reports, neither side mentioned denuclearisation at all. North Korea has repeatedly asserted that it will not abandon its nuclear arsenal, describing it as essential for deterrence. The sister of leader Kim Jong Un, Kim Yo Jong, called the policy a ‘line of no retreat’ earlier this month.