July 27 (Asia Today) — By Asia Today and translated by UPI

SEOUL, July 27 (Asia Today) – Kim Yo Jong, the influential sister of North Korean leader Kim Jong Un, rejected an ASEAN Regional Forum statement calling for the complete denuclearization of the Korean Peninsula and vowed to continue strengthening the country’s nuclear capabilities.

Kim, director of the Workers’ Party of Korea’s General Affairs Department, said Monday that North Korea’s nuclear capabilities “will be continually upgraded without a moment of stagnation,” according to the state-run Korean Central News Agency.

She condemned the forum’s chairman’s statement for what she called a distortion of the situation on the Korean Peninsula.

“We resolutely condemn and reject, in the strongest terms, the openly hostile attitude of ignoring the constitution of the Democratic People’s Republic of Korea and joining the United States in its calls for denuclearization,” Kim said, using North Korea’s official name.

The statement, released Saturday after a gathering of foreign ministers from the Indo-Pacific region, expressed serious concern about North Korea’s continued development of nuclear weapons and ballistic missile programs in violation of U.N. Security Council resolutions.

It also emphasized the importance of resuming peaceful dialogue among the countries involved.

Since last year, the forum’s language on North Korea has shifted from calling for “complete, verifiable and irreversible denuclearization” to the less specific goal of denuclearizing the Korean Peninsula. Pyongyang nevertheless strongly objected to the latest statement.

Kim said the concept of denuclearizing the Korean Peninsula had “completely lost its meaning in both concept and practice.”

“The existing situation will never change according to the rhetoric or wishes of any outside force,” she said.

Kim cited North Korea’s constitution, which defines the country as a nuclear-armed state, and dismissed attempts by the United States and its allies to alter that status through a statement with no legally binding authority.

“Our position that nuclear deterrence is the ultimate shield of national sovereignty and the strongest guarantee for defending our sovereign rights is firm and clear,” Kim said. “Our position and significance as a nuclear-armed state are final and irreversible.”

Kim also warned ASEAN-related foreign ministers’ meetings against being used as what she described as a mouthpiece for the United States.

She has repeatedly responded to international statements calling for North Korea’s denuclearization. In June, she denounced a similar appeal issued at the Group of Seven summit.

Her latest statement appears intended to prevent denuclearization from becoming an accepted international standard for dealing with North Korea while reinforcing Pyongyang’s claim that its nuclear weapons are defensive.

— Reported by Asia Today; translated by UPI

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