The department head of the Workers' Party of Korea and sister of North Korean leader Kim Jong Un, Kim Yo Jong, issued a sharp statement in response to calls for denuclearization, reports website infohub.kz.
According to the Korean Central News Agency (KCNA), Kim Yo Jong released an official press statement reacting to the foreign ministers' meeting of the ASEAN Regional Forum held recently in the Philippines.
"A pitiful chair's statement was published that distorted the essence of the situation on the Korean Peninsula and droned on about some 'complete denuclearization of the Korean Peninsula,'" Kim Yo Jong said. "I express serious dissatisfaction with the forum's openly hostile stance, which ignored the DPRK's Constitution and danced to the tune of 'denuclearization' following the United States. I most strongly condemn and reject it with the strictest rhetorical expression."
According to her, the United States and its helpers are trying to change the permanently enshrined status of a nuclear state under the DPRK Constitution with just a piece of paper that has no legally binding force. She called the ASEAN Regional Forum a paid trumpeter of the United States.
"Our position is consistent and clear: nuclear deterrence forces are a reliable shield for state sovereignty and the best guarantee for protecting state power," she added. "No matter what anyone says, the status and significance of the DPRK's existence as a responsible nuclear state that ensures parity of forces and guarantees geopolitical security on the Korean Peninsula and beyond are final and irreversible."
According to Kim Yo Jong, the country's nuclear capability will be continuously upgraded without the slightest halt.