North Korea's Foreign Minister Choe Son-hui has declared her country's commitment to maintaining its nuclear weapons through "all ages" to be "irreversible," issuing a forceful rebuttal to recent international calls for Pyongyang to abandon its atomic programme. Speaking through the state-run Korean Central News Agency (KCNA) on Thursday, Choe said the North's status as a nuclear-armed state was "everlasting" and "will remain unchanged forever," using some of the strongest language yet to cement what Pyongyang has long framed as a permanent strategic posture.
The statement came in direct response to a trilateral meeting held in New York earlier in the week, where the top diplomats of South Korea, the United States, and Japan reiterated their shared commitment to the "complete" denuclearisation of the Korean Peninsula and called on Pyongyang to return to dialogue. Choe rejected this framing outright, saying that the combination of confrontation and dialogue might work for others, but was "never a considerable one" for North Korea. The remarks also followed a speech at the United Nations General Assembly by South Korean President Lee Jae Myung, who called for halting further growth in the North's weapons capabilities and ultimately achieving a peninsula "free from nuclear weapons." Lee has repeatedly sought to revive stalled diplomatic channels with Pyongyang.
North Korea, a heavily isolated state occupying the northern half of the Korean Peninsula, has steadily expanded its nuclear and missile programmes over several decades in defiance of international sanctions. Pyongyang has legally enshrined its nuclear status in its constitution, and its leadership has made repeated declarations that the arsenal is non-negotiable. On the same day as Choe's statement, KCNA separately announced that the country had tested "updated 240mm controlled multiple-launch rockets" capable of striking targets up to 115 kilometres away.
The diplomatic backdrop remains complex. US President Donald Trump, who met North Korean leader Kim Jong Un three times during his first term in office, said last month he planned to meet Kim again later this year. South Korea's president has publicly stated that Trump "clearly wants dialogue" with Pyongyang. North Korea's vice foreign minister is expected to address the UN General Assembly next week, offering a further window into Pyongyang's current diplomatic posture.
The foreign minister's declaration underscores how far apart the two sides remain. While Washington, Seoul, and Tokyo continue to press for denuclearisation as the basis for any engagement, Pyongyang is signalling that its nuclear identity is not a bargaining chip — complicating any path toward renewed negotiations.