North Korea's Kim Yo-jong vows unceasing nuclear buildup, rejects ARF denuclearization call

Kim Yo-jong, director of the Korean Workers' Party Central Committee, sharply condemned a reference to "denuclearization of the Korean Peninsula" in the ASEAN Regional Forum chair's statement Monday, declaring North Korea's status as a nuclear-armed state irreversible.

In a statement released through KCNA that day, Kim said "North Korea's nuclear capabilities will be continuously updated without a moment's pause," and denounced what she called "a pathetically wretched chair's statement that babbles about the 'complete denuclearization of the Korean Peninsula.'"

The ARF chair's statement, issued Saturday, expressed concern over North Korea's nuclear and missile programs and urged compliance with UN Security Council resolutions, denuclearization and dialogue. It again included the phrase "complete denuclearization of the Korean Peninsula," repeating language used last year.

Kim said she expressed "strong displeasure" at what she called the forum's "openly hostile attitude" in siding with Washington's "denuclearization" refrain in disregard of North Korea's constitution, and said she "resolutely condemns and rejects it in the most stern rhetorical terms."

She added that clinging to "denuclearization of the Korean Peninsula" represented "a failure of strategic thinking and logic, and a manifestation of foolish and ignorant delusion," stressing that "the current situation will never change according to the rhetoric or 'hopes' of any outside force."

Kim said "nuclear deterrence is the ultimate shield of national sovereignty and the supreme guarantee of protecting state power," and declared that "the position and raison d'être of the Democratic People's Republic of Korea as a responsible nuclear-armed state that ensures the balance of power and guarantees geopolitical stability is final and irreversible."

The statement amounts to Pyongyang's formal reaffirmation of its nuclear buildup posture, rejecting the international community's denuclearization demands once again after enshrining nuclear-armed status in its constitution.

The explicit reference to continuous upgrades signals that North Korea's nuclear and missile development will proceed without interruption, raising the prospect of further tensions on the Korean Peninsula.