Pyongyang pushes back against State Department's reaffirmation of full denuclearization goal; blasts trilateral 'Freedom Edge' drills
North Korea strongly condemned the United States' reaffirmation of its denuclearization principle, its raising of human rights concerns, and the trilateral South Korea-US-Japan Freedom Edge military exercises, calling them evidence of Washington's "unchanged hostile policy" and reaffirming its commitment to expanding its nuclear arsenal.
A Foreign Ministry spokesperson said in a statement carried by KCNA that "there is not the slightest change in our policy toward the US, which is to respond to America's unchanged hostile policy with the utmost firmness to the end."
The spokesperson added that "it is meaningless to expect any easing of tensions in the grave situation where the US permanent hostile policy toward Korea is evolving into a more dangerous form."
The ministry cited several recent developments in its statement: a Department of State spokesperson's remarks that Washington "remains committed to the complete denuclearization of North Korea" and that "there is no change in US policy," as well as the announcement that South Korea, the United States and Japan would proceed as planned with the multi-domain exercise "2026 Freedom Edge" from Aug. 7 to 11 to strengthen trilateral security cooperation.
Pyongyang said the Trump administration had "fully reaffirmed its unchanged hostile policy of gravely infringing upon the sovereignty, political system and security interests of the Democratic People's Republic of Korea through the 'denuclearization' farce, 'human rights' smear campaign and military threats."
The Department of State said Wednesday (local time), in response to a question about whether the Trump administration's policy goal toward North Korea remained complete denuclearization, that "the United States remains committed to the complete denuclearization of North Korea."
The statement came after speculation arose that Washington might be softening its North Korea policy, following the omission of the word "denuclearization" from a readout of a recent phone call between the South Korean and US foreign ministers.
The Foreign Ministry, noting that North Korea's constitution explicitly enshrines its nuclear status, warned that "the current status of the DPRK is not weakened or diluted by the US repeated expressions of its 'denuclearization' position," and that Pyongyang "will be more resolute and clear in exercising its sovereignty to defend the supreme interests of national security on the premise that there is no change and there will be no change in the US policy toward Korea."
The ministry further argued that "US hostility toward Korea is the root cause of heating up the tension on the Korean Peninsula to a more dangerous level and bringing about structural instability in the region," and said "the DPRK's possession of nuclear weapons and its continuous buildup is the most responsible and accurate choice for ensuring peace and security in the region."
rimsclub@heraldcorp.com
