North Korea says its status as a nuclear weapons state can never be reversed

9/4/2025 6:42

North Korea's status as a nuclear weapons state can never be reversed, no matter how much the United States and its Asian allies demand it, state media reported on Wednesday, citing the powerful sister of its supreme leader.



The comments, which state news agency KCNA said were issued on Tuesday, were likely a response to a joint statement by the foreign ministers of South Korea, Japan and the United States made on the sidelines of a NATO meeting last week.



The three foreign ministers reaffirmed the "commitment to the complete denuclearization" of North Korea, according to the joint statement.



The position of the North's nuclear weapons state, together with its "substantial and very strong nuclear deterrent" is a result of outside hostile threat and "it does not change no matter how desperately anyone denies," said Kim Yo Jong, the sister of North Korean leader Kim Jong Un, according to KCNA.