KB News Desk
North Korean leader Kim Jong-un’s sister Kim Yo-jong on Monday dismissed a regional call for the denuclearization of the Korean Peninsula.
The move appeared to both reinforce Pyongyang’s claim that its nuclear weapons status is irreversible and resist efforts to keep denuclearization at the center of international diplomacy.
In a statement published by the state-run Korean Central News Agency, Kim took issue with a statement adopted at the ASEAN Regional Forum foreign ministers’ meeting in Manila over the weekend, which reaffirmed support for the peaceful denuclearization of the Korean Peninsula.
Calling the statement a distortion of the security situation on the Korean Peninsula, Kim accused the United States and its allies of ignoring North Korea’s constitution, which defines the country as a nuclear weapons state.
“Resolute and clear is the DPRK’s stand that nuclear deterrence is the ultimate shield for national sovereignty and the supreme guarantee for defending sovereignty,” Kim said, using the acronym for North Korea’s official name, the Democratic People’s Republic of Korea.
“Whatever others may say, the position and significance of existence of the DPRK as a responsible nuclear weapons state … are final and irreversible,” she said.
She added that North Korea’s “nuclear capability will be updated steadily without a momentary stagnation.”
The remarks came a day after the ASEAN Regional Forum — the only multilateral security forum that brings together both Koreas — reaffirmed calls for the full implementation of relevant UN Security Council resolutions and the peaceful denuclearization of the Korean Peninsula. North Korea did not attend the meeting for a second consecutive year, amid what observers see as Pyongyang’s growing emphasis on bilateral ties with Russia and China over regional multilateral engagement.
Analysts said Kim’s response was aimed not only at rejecting the ARF statement but also at preventing the concept of denuclearization from becoming entrenched as the international community’s accepted standard for addressing North Korea.
“North Korea cannot afford to let references to the denuclearization of the Korean Peninsula in official international documents go unchallenged because they could become an internationally accepted norm,” Lim Eul-chul, a professor at Kyungnam University’s Institute for Far Eastern Studies, said.
According to Lim, Pyongyang is using the ARF statement as a diplomatic trigger to justify continued expansion of its nuclear arsenal while attempting to invalidate the denuclearization framework altogether. By repeatedly describing its nuclear status as “final and irreversible,” North Korea is preparing for prolonged confrontation with the international community over sanctions, military pressure and its advancing nuclear capabilities, he said.
Lim said Kim’s pattern of issuing hard-line statements whenever the international community reaffirms the goal of denuclearization also serves a domestic political purpose by reinforcing ideological unity and signaling that the leadership will never compromise on North Korea’s constitutionally enshrined status as a nuclear weapons state.
Yang Moo-jin, a distinguished professor at the University of North Korean Studies, said the wording of the ARF statement reflected difficult negotiations among participating countries.
According to Yang, the United States and Japan strongly backed retaining language on denuclearization, while China and Russia opposed it. South Korea supported including the language but placed greater emphasis on dialogue and diplomacy than on pressure, with the final statement broadly reflecting Seoul’s position.
Yang noted that Pyongyang appears interested only in the outcome of those negotiations rather than the diplomatic process itself.
He also said the latest statement appeared to carry an indirect message toward Beijing and Moscow. While directly criticizing Washington and its allies, Kim’s remarks may also reflect Pyongyang’s disappointment that its two closest partners failed to block the inclusion of denuclearization language in the final ARF statement.
Yang further argued that North Korea’s legal justification for its nuclear program fundamentally differs from that of Seoul, Washington and Tokyo. While the three countries emphasize North Korea’s violations of UN Security Council resolutions, Pyongyang frames its nuclear arsenal as a sovereign right protected under the UN Charter and reinforced by its constitution.
He added that past experiences suggest dialogue has tended to moderate North Korea’s nuclear posture, whereas confrontation has accelerated its nuclear development, arguing that a phased, reciprocal framework addressing denuclearization, normalization of relations and a peace regime simultaneously would offer a more realistic path forward.
Separately, Yanh noted that North Korea’s state media has continued to elevate the public profile of Kim Jong-un’s daughter, Kim Ju-ae, and highlighted her placement at the center of recent state commemorations alongside the North Korean leader and first lady Ri Sol-ju.
He said repeatedly positioning Ju-ae between her parents during major political ceremonies appears intended to reinforce her image as the most likely successor to inherit the legitimacy of the Mount Paektu bloodline.
