G7: North Korea criticises calls for denuclearisation

North Korea has criticised the United States and other Group of Seven (G7) countries after G7 foreign ministers urged denuclearisation and condemned the North’s April 13 test of what Pyongyang said was a solid-fuel ICBM.

State news agency KCNA quotes North Korean Foreign Minister Choe Son Hui as saying that the country’s position as a nuclear weapons state will remain an undeniable reality as it builds up its forces until military threats from the United States and its allies are eliminated.

Choe said North Korea’s status as a nuclear power was “final and irreversible,” and would stay an “undeniable and stark reality” even if Washington and others in the West denied it.

“We will never seek any recognition or approval from anyone, as we are satisfied with our access to the strength for a tit-for-tat strike against the U.S. nuclear threat,” KCNA quoted her as saying.

Choe accused the G7 countries of illegally interfering in North Korea’s internal affairs by demanding denuclearisation, saying Pyongyang would respond if they attempted to violate its sovereignty and fundamental interests.

“We will continue to take action measures based on all legal rights granted to a sovereign state until the military threat posed by the U.S. and its allied forces hostile toward us is completely removed,” Choe said.

Pyongyang’s development of nuclear weapons is only intended to guard against U.S. threats, she added, telling Washington to drop its “hostile policy” against the North to ensure its own security.

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Seoul’s unification ministry, charged with handling relations between the neighbours, denounced the North’s statement as “far-fetched,” urging it to stop making threats and developing unlawful weapons programmes.

“North Korea will never get what it wants through nuclear and missile development, and it will only become more isolated from the international community,” ministry deputy spokesperson Lee Hyo-jung told a briefing.

Unification Minister Kwon Young-se said it was not possible to rule out a major provocation by North Korea ahead of a U.S. visit next week by the South’s president, Yoon Suk Yeol, for a summit with President Joe Biden.

Tension has flared as North Korea has ramped up military activities, and threatened “more practical and offensive” action as U.S. and South Korean forces hold annual spring military exercises it called a rehearsal for “an all-out, nuclear war”

Zainab Sa’id