North Korea dismisses US State Department and USTR statements as 'habitual lies'; Kim's remarks seen as signal that denuclearization is off the table for Xi Jinping's Pyongyang visit

Kim Yo-jong, director of the Korean Workers' Party Central Committee. [Yonhap]
Kim Yo-jong, director of the Korean Workers' Party Central Committee. [Yonhap]

One day before Chinese President Xi Jinping's scheduled visit to Pyongyang, Kim Yo-jong, director of the Korean Workers' Party Central Committee, declared North Korea's status as a nuclear-armed state an absolute red line and flatly rejected US demands for denuclearization.

In a statement published Saturday in the party's official newspaper Rodong Sinmun, Kim dismissed the US State Department's official position — that the leaders of the United States and China had agreed at their recent summit on the goal of "complete denuclearization of North Korea" — as "America's habitual game of spreading lies."

Kim also rejected remarks by US Trade Representative Jamieson Greer, who said Donald Trump and Xi had agreed at their summit on the goal of denuclearizing the Korean Peninsula, calling them "a complete fabrication and absurd disinformation." She said the claim "may be the wishful thinking of US officials with a peculiarly strong fixation on the outdated term 'denuclearization,' but it is not true at all." She added that North Korea "holds the most accurate information on whether such facts exist," suggesting Pyongyang had received a direct account from the Chinese side.

Coming one day before Xi's arrival, the statement appeared designed to make clear that denuclearization would not be on the agenda for the North Korea-China summit. Kim said US arguments seeking to "discuss" North Korea's nuclear status "carry no legal binding force, and no one will be bound by America's unilateral rhetorical statements." She called on Washington to "abandon its delusions about 'denuclearization' and its interference with our legitimate self-defensive policy."

Kim also cited the US approval of $106 million (about 165 billion won) worth of Joint Direct Attack Munition exports to South Korea as among the reasons North Korea "is devoting itself to strengthening its self-defense capabilities in response to the ceaseless military buildup of hostile states." She said North Korea's nuclear status is "an absolute red line that will never be crossed — an undeniable reality whether anyone recognizes it or not," and vowed that the country "will never tolerate any threat or compromise regarding our sovereignty and security."


psj@heraldcorp.com