North Korea claimed it was a “responsible nuclear state” at a United Nations conference Tuesday. The remarks came amid high tensions on the Korean Peninsula, including the North’s launch of several short-range ballistic missiles on Jan. 14. Photo by Jeon Heon-kyun/EPA-EFE
SEOUL, Jan. 22 (UPI) — North Korea defended its right to maintain a nuclear weapons program at a United Nations disarmament conference in Geneva on Tuesday, shortly after U.S. President Donald Trump surprised allies by referring to the North as a “nuclear power.”
“As a responsible nuclear weapons state, we will continue to make efforts to prevent all forms of war and to protect peace and stability,” Jo Chol Su, North Korea’s permanent representative to the United Nations Office at Geneva, said during the conference.
Jo blamed the United States for an “astronomical amount of arms buildup and undisguised nuclear proliferation.”
“The U.S. and its allies keep on supplying high-tech military hardware … resulting in conflicts and bloodshed in many parts of the world,” Jo said.
The North Korean representative pointed to recent trilateral air exercises held by the United States, South Korea and Japan, which included U.S. B-1B strategic bombers, as creating a dangerous climate in the region.
“The military provocations struggling for superiority of strength on the Korean Peninsula, the biggest hotspot in the world, escalate the tensions to the worst, causing a grave situation of possible outbreak of the most destructive thermonuclear war,” Jo said.
Tensions have been high on the Korean Peninsula since the beginning of the year, with North Korea firing what it claims is a new hypersonic missile as well as a salvo of short-range missiles ahead of U.S. President Donald Trump’s inauguration Monday.
While signing a raft of executive orders on his first day in the Oval Office, Trump touted his positive relationship with North Korean leader Kim Jong Un and acknowledged Pyongyang’s nuclear status.
“I was very friendly with [Kim],” Trump told reporters during a press availability. “He liked me, I liked him. We got along very well.”
“Now, he is a nuclear power,” Trump said. “I think he’ll be happy to see I’m coming back.”
South Korea has been quick to dismiss the possibility of accepting North Korea as a nuclear weapons state, a status granted only to five countries under the Treaty on the Non-Proliferation of Nuclear Weapons, or NPT.
“North Korea’s status as a nuclear state cannot be recognized, and North Korea’s denuclearization must continue to be pursued as a prerequisite for permanent peace and stability not only on the Korean Peninsula but also around the world,” Seoul’s Defense Ministry said last week after Defense Secretary nominee Pete Hegseth also referred to Pyongyang as a “nuclear power.”
Trump’s return to the White House has led to speculation that he may look to revive nuclear negotiations with Kim. During his first term, Trump held two high-profile summits with the North Korean leader and met him briefly a third time at the DMZ.
The diplomatic outreach failed to result in a nuclear deal, however, and Pyongyang has accelerated the development of its weapons programs in the intervening years. North Korea’s growing military relationship with Russia is a particular concern for Washington and its allies.
The North has sent munitions and missiles to Russia, as well as more than 12,000 troops to aid Moscow’s war effort against Ukraine in the southwestern Kursk region, according to U.S. officials. Washington has warned that Russia intends to share advanced satellite and space technologies with Pyongyang in exchange.
Kim Il-hoon, South Korea’s deputy permanent representative to the U.N. in Geneva, condemned North Korea’s military cooperation with Russia as a violation of U.N. Security Council resolutions at the disarmament conference Tuesday.
“The capture of two North Korean soldiers in Kursk clearly demonstrates that North Korean troops are engaged in combat,” he said. “Many young soldiers’ lives are being compromised to fulfill the objective of the North Korean regime.”
Kim added that North Korea’s rejection of its long-standing goal of peaceful reunification with the South has raised the specter of a nuclear conflict on the Korean Peninsula.
“North Korea redefined inter-Korean relations as ‘two hostile states’ at the end of 2023, scrapping the seven-decade-long policy of unification overnight and eliminating the psychological hurdle to justify a preemptive nuclear strike on fellow Koreans in the South,” Kim said.
