Kim's North Korea 'Will Never Give Up' Nuclear Weapons: State Media
North Korea "will never give up" its nuclear weapons, the country's state media said on Sunday, after the U.S. and its G7 allies called for a complete denuclearization.
In a commentary, the Korean Central News Agency (KCNA) criticized a statement released by G7 foreign ministers on September 24, which condemned the country expanding its unlawful nuclear and ballistic missile programs.
The G7 demanded the North abandon nuclear weapons , its existing nuclear programs, and other weapons of mass destruction and ballistic missile programs in a complete, verifiable and irreversible manner as part of the complete denuclearization of the Korean Peninsula .
"This is just bombast urging the DPRK [Democratic People's Republic of Korea] to dismantle its absolute guarantee for national security and give up its right to existence," said KCNA, using the official name of the country, which is ruled by leader Kim Jong-un .
The commentary stressed that North Korea will never surrender its nuclear weapons, claiming "any attempt against our nuclear weapons can never work." It warned the G7 "will have to pay dearly" for violating the country's law in relation to its nuclear status.
In September 2022, North Korea enacted a nuclear law calling its status as a nuclear state "irreversible." A year later, Kim declared that the North's policy of nuclear force-building had been stipulated in the constitution, making it permanent as the country's basic law.
During his term in office from 2017 to 2021, former U.S. President Donald Trump pushed for nuclear diplomacy by holding three in-person talks with Kim Jong-un, but the North Korean leader refused to give up his nukes and continued to expand the arsenal.
The Stockholm International Peace Research Institute (SIPRI) estimated that as of January, North Korea possessed around 50 nuclear warheads, which could be delivered by ballistic and cruise missiles, and that it has sufficient fissile material to produce a total of up to 90 warheads.
Nine countries are armed with or understood to have nuclear weapons. The nuclear-armed statuses of the U.S., Russia, China, the United Kingdom and France are designated by the 1968 Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty, which sought to prevent the spread of nuclear weapons.
North Korea withdrew from the treaty in 2003. Meanwhile, India, Pakistan and Israel are not parties to the treaty. The two South Asian countries have publicly tested and declared that they have nukes, while Israel is purposely ambiguous on its nuclear status.
Earlier this month, North Korea offered a rare glimpse into its secretive facility to produce weapons-grade uranium, a fissile material essential for nuclear chain reactions, as Kim called for bolstering "the foundation for producing weapons-grade nuclear materials."
On Thursday, the National Intelligence Service, a spy agency in South Korea , said North Korea has likely enriched adequate uranium to build a "double-digit" number of nukes .
South Korea is a non-nuclear-armed security treaty ally of the U.S. Washington's commitment to extended deterrence to Seoul is backed by the full range of its military capabilities, including nuclear weapons.
Extended deterrence, also known as providing a "nuclear umbrella," is a commitment to deter and to respond to nuclear and non-nuclear scenarios in defense of allies and partners.
