North Korean Vice Minister for Foreign Affairs Kim Son Gyong spoke during the General Debate of the 80th session of the United Nations General Assembly at United Nations headquarters on Monday. Photo by Sarah Yenesel/EPA
Sept. 30 (UPI) — A senior North Korean diplomat vowed that Pyongyang would “never give up” its nuclear weapons in a rare address to the United Nations General Assembly on Monday.
Speaking during the General Debate, Vice Foreign Minister Kim Son Gyong said that imposing denuclearization on the North is “tantamount to demanding it to surrender sovereignty and right to existence.”
His appearance before the General Assembly marked the first time Pyongyang has sent a senior diplomat since 2018.
“We will never give up nuclear, which is our state law, national policy and sovereign power as well as the right to existence,” Kim said. “Under any circumstances, we will never walk away from this position.”
The North passed a law declaring itself a nuclear-armed state in 2022. Leader Kim Jong Un called the decision “irreversible” and later amended the country’s constitution to enshrine the permanent growth of Pyongyang’s nuclear arsenal.
The vice minister told the attendees that the North’s nuclear arsenal was a necessary “war deterrent” against mounting threats by the United States and its allies.
“In order to permanently maintain this state of balance and ensure everlasting peace on the Korean Peninsula, we have stipulated nuclear in our constitution as a sacred and absolute thing that can never be touched upon and tampered with,” he said.
Kim added that the North was open to engagement with “countries that respect and take friendly approaches towards it.”
His speech comes as both Washington and Seoul have expressed hope to engage with North Korea.
U.S. President Donald Trump, who held a pair of high-profile summits with Kim Jong Un during his first term in office, has suggested on several occasions that he would meet with the North Korean leader again.
Kim Jong Un appeared to open the door to restarting diplomacy with the United States last week, saying he has “fond memories” of Trump but warning that denuclearization was off the table.
“If the United States abandons its vain obsession with denuclearization, acknowledges reality and desires genuine peaceful coexistence with us, there is no reason why we should not sit down with the United States,” Kim said.
South Korean President Lee Jae Myung, meanwhile, has made efforts to reduce tensions between the two Koreas since he took office in June, with conciliatory gestures such as removing propaganda loudspeakers from border areas.
In his debut address to the General Assembly last week, Lee unveiled a peace initiative that sought engagement and normalization with the North while offering a “phased solution” to nuclear disarmament that would start with a weapons development freeze.
After Vice Minister Kim’s U.N. address, Seoul’s Foreign Ministry on Tuesday reaffirmed its ultimate goal of denuclearization.
“Denuclearization of the Korean Peninsula is a consistent goal of the international community, including South Korea and the United States,” a ministry spokesperson said at a press briefing.