N. Korea to keep bolstering nuclear force, criticizes US for pursuing 'outdated' denuclearization goal
North Korea said it will adhere to bolstering its nuclear force, criticizing the United States for pursuing what it called an "outdated and absurd" denuclearization plan of the North, according to the North's state media Tuesday.
The North's foreign ministry made the remarks in response to a recent joint statement by South Korea, the US and Japan that reaffirmed their goal of the complete denuclearization of North Korea.
North Korea will "consistently adhere to the new line of bolstering up the nuclear force" and "thoroughly deter the US and its vassal forces from threats and blackmail" by making use of all political and military tools at its disposal, the North's ministry said in a statement carried by the Korean Central News Agency.
"The US is pursuing an outdated and absurd plan of 'denuclearization,' which is now getting more impossible and impracticable even practically and conceptually from the viewpoint of the present time," it said.
The statement also called denuclearization a "shortsighted goal," saying it is "no more than the height of stupidity that arouses the astonishment of the world people" and the US has not yet awakened from "the failed old dream of the denuclearization."
"It is not worth consideration to counter the stand of the US escaping from reality and we condemn and reject the US action in the most resolute tone," it also said.
South Korea's foreign ministry said last week's trilateral talks among South Korean Foreign Minister Cho Tae-yul, US Secretary of State Marco Rubio and Japanese Foreign Minister Takeshi Iwaya sent a "strong" warning against North Korean provocations and stressed their commitment to reinforcing the global anti-Pyongyang sanctions regime.
The North's ministry expressed "serious concern," accusing the three nations of "inciting collective confrontation" on the Korean Peninsula and the region and warning that any provocation and threat will be met with "overwhelming and decisive counteraction."
"As long as the US and its vassal forces' hostile threat exists, the DPRK's nukes are means for defending peace and sovereignty and a means for legitimate self-defense," the ministry noted.
"The more desperately the US resorts to ineffective means of pressure against the DPRK ... the more the DPRK will continue to take a new opportunity for the upward coordination of its strategic force," the ministry also said, adding that "anachronistic and futile attempt to challenge its sovereignty will entail self-destructive results." (Yonhap)
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