North Korea rejects Quad call for denuclearisation, says it will ‘never’ abandon nuclear weapons

North Korea on Thursday strongly condemned the Quad nations for calling for its complete denuclearisation, asserting that Pyongyang will never give up its nuclear weapons programme and accusing the grouping of advancing US strategic dominance.

The reaction came days after the foreign ministers of the Quadrilateral Security Dialogue India, Australia, Japan and the United States, reaffirmed their commitment to the “complete denuclearisation” of North Korea during a meeting held in New Delhi.

Responding to the joint statement, North Korea’s foreign ministry accused the Quad of interfering in the country’s sovereign affairs and acting as “nothing but a political and diplomatic tool” for Washington.

”We once again say there will never, ever be any denuclearisation of the DPRK,” a spokesperson for the ministry said, using the acronym for North Korea’s official name, the Democratic People’s Republic of Korea.

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Pyongyang also said it ”flatly” rejects the ”US-led” Quad’s ”hostile stance” against the country and strongly urged the grouping to halt ”the pursuit of confrontation that undermines regional peace and stability.”

The criticism followed the release of the Quad Foreign Ministers’ Meeting Joint Statement on Tuesday, which said, ”We reaffirm our commitment to the complete denuclearisation of North Korea in accordance with relevant UNSCRs and urge North Korea to abide by all its obligations under the relevant UNSCRs.”

The statement added, ”We condemn North Korea’s unlawful development of ballistic missiles and weapons of mass destruction. We also express grave concern over North Korea’s malicious cyber activities, and IT worker activities, which fund North Korea’s unlawful weapons of mass destruction and ballistic missile programs.”

The grouping further called on all UN member states to fully implement sanctions against North Korea, including restrictions on arms transfers and procurement of military-related material.

The ministers also expressed concern over countries expanding military cooperation with Pyongyang, warning that such partnerships undermine the global non-proliferation regime.

In addition, the Quad reiterated the need for the immediate resolution of the long-standing abductions issue involving Japanese citizens abducted by North Korea decades ago.

The sharp exchange highlights continuing tensions over Pyongyang’s nuclear ambitions, which remain one of the key security concerns in the Indo-Pacific region.

With inputs from agencies