By Oyintari Ben
According to official media KCNA on Friday, North Korea’s possession of nuclear weapons will continue to be an undeniable fact, and the country will keep bolstering its military until all military threats from the US and its allies have been eliminated, Choe Son Hui, the Foreign Minister of North Korea said in a statement, criticizing the United States and the other G7 nations.
The G7 foreign ministers denounced the North’s test on April 13 of what Pyongyang claimed to be an intercontinental ballistic missile using solid fuel and called for denuclearization.
The US and South Korean militaries are conducting their yearly springtime military drills as tensions have risen in recent weeks as North Korea has increased military activities and warned of “more practical and offensive” action.
These drills have sparked an angry response from North Korea, which has dubbed them a practice for “an all-out, nuclear war.”
Even if Washington and other Western nations dispute it, Choe claimed that North Korea’s status as a nuclear state is “final and irreversible” and would always be an “undeniable and stark reality.”
She argued that Pyongyang was only developing nuclear weapons to protect itself from US threats and urged Washington to halt its “hostile policy” towards the North to protect its security.
She said, “It is anachronistic to think that the right to and capability for a nuclear strike is exclusive to Washington,” according to KCNA. “We are satisfied with our access to the strength for a tit-for-tat strike against the US nuclear threat, and we will never seek any recognition or approval from anyone.”
Choe asserted that North Korea would retaliate if the G7 nations attempted to breach its sovereignty or fundamental interests by interfering with its domestic affairs by pressing for denuclearization.
“We will continue to take active measures based on all legal rights granted to a sovereign state until the military threat posed by the US and its allied forces hostile towards us is completely removed,” Choe declared.
The North’s declaration was criticized by Seoul’s unification ministry, which is in charge of inter-Korean affairs, as “far-fetched,” and it was urged to quit making threats and creating illegal weapons initiatives.
According to deputy ministry spokeswoman Lee Hyo-Jung, at a briefing, “North Korea will never get what it wants through nuclear and missile development, and it will only become more isolated from the international community.”
