(New York = Yonhap News) Correspondent Lim Soo-jeong and Kim Yeon-sook = North Korean Vice Foreign Minister Kim Sun-kyung said in a speech at the United Nations General Assembly on the 28th (local time), "I once again confirm the official position that the status of a nuclear state cannot be restored by anything under any circumstances."
Vice Minister Kim said in a speech at the 81st General Debate of the United Nations General Assembly held at the United Nations Headquarters in New York that day, "The nuclear deterrent possessed by the Democratic Republic of Korea is an absolute force and force majeure to protect sovereignty, safety, and peace from external aggression and threats."
He said, "The reason physical conflict does not occur and security is maintained in the Korean Peninsula is because we have a strong deterrent to war and are thoroughly managing the will of hostile forces to use force."
The purpose is to once again rationalize the necessity of possessing nuclear weapons. Vice Minister Kim did not directly mention the North Korea-US dialogue in his speech, but he appears to have re-emphasized the Kim Jong-un regime's position that denuclearization should not be a subject of discussion in the first place.
Vice Minister Kim said, "We will continue to strictly control and manage all threats from outside with our overwhelming strength, thereby firmly protecting national sovereignty and fundamental interests and ensuring peace and security in the region and the world. We will be more faithful to our mission as a nuclear state."
Vice Minister Kim also strongly opposed joint military training centered on the U.S. military.
He mentioned the Ulchi Freedom Shield, a joint ROK-US exercise, and criticized the US for targeting North Korea and developing its military cooperation with South Korea and Japan into a more aggressive military alliance that even includes nuclear weapons elements.
He said, โ(The United States) is constantly cultivating and mastering its execution capabilities by working with its allies to revise and update nuclear war scripts.โ
In particular, efforts were made to promote Korea's possession of nuclear submarines.
He criticized, "The current military trend of the United States approving and actively pursuing Seoul's ambition to possess nuclear submarines and moving and deploying the latest missiles, unmanned aerial vehicles and other equipment in the Korean Peninsula and surrounding areas is making the already unstable regional security situation more vulnerable."
Regarding recent military trends, such as Japan's long-range cruise missile test launches, he claimed, "The extraordinary war criminal state, which caused indescribable pain and disaster to humanity in the last century, is using the chaotic international situation to spur unprecedented rearmament, including reforming the Peace Constitution, reorganizing the military organization, and increasing armed forces, and is bringing war clouds to the entire region."
He added, "Japan's ambition to focus on developing and possessing long-range attack weapons is completely contrary to the meaning of a war-defeated country."
However, with US President Donald Trump publicly expressing his willingness to engage in dialogue with North Korean Chairman Kim Jong-un, attention was paid to whether North Korea would issue a related message, but no specific mention was made on this day.
Previously, President Trump also did not include a message to North Korea regarding the resumption of North Korea-US dialogue in his speech at the UN General Assembly.
Vice Minister Kim also emphasized the need for UN reform.
He said, "Rather than reform focusing on a specific country, everyone's opinions and interests must be represented equally. The era in which one country unilaterally dictated its will to the world and dictated international politics has ended forever."
Despite internal and external threats, confidence in the policy of โself-relianceโ was expressed several times.
Vice Minister Kim said, "There are countless challenges and difficulties due to the inhumane maneuvers of forces that are not happy with our development as well as our very survival. However, no matter how the situation changes, we will achieve all our goals through our own efforts. This is the confidence that all of our people have."
At this time, North Korean Ambassador to the United Nations Kim Sung and other delegation staff applauded at the speech, but there was no positive response from delegations from other countries. A small number of staff from the Korean, U.S., and Japanese missions remained in their seats while Vice Minister Kim spoke.
This is the second year in a row that Vice Minister Kim has given a speech at the United Nations.
After the collapse of the North Korea-US summit in Hanoi in 2019, North Korea did not dispatch a high-level delegation to the UN General Assembly for six years until 2024. In the meantime, Ambassador Kim Seong gave the keynote speech at the UN General Assembly, but last year, with Vice Minister Kim's attendance, the dispatch of high-level delegations resumed for the first time in seven years.
Meanwhile, after the general discussion ended on this day, a battle broke out between North Korea, China, and Japan over Japanese Prime Minister Sanae Takaichi's demand for the deletion of the 'enemy clause' in the UN Charter.
The Enemy Clause is a regulation that allowed the victorious countries during World War II to take military action without permission or declaration of war from the Security Council to prevent the recurrence of military provocations by defeated countries such as Germany and Japan.
The Japanese side exercised its right to reply and refuted the claim that Japan is seeking to become a military powerhouse again, saying, "Japan's defense capabilities are at the minimum level necessary for national security, and the three non-nuclear principles are also being observed."
In response, North Korea also took the opportunity to speak, once again referring to Japan as a "war criminal state" and asserting that it was "accelerating the transition to a warring state."
China also used its right to reply, saying, "Japan's new militarism is spreading at a worrying rate," and "we firmly oppose the removal of the enemy clause."
