North Korea has dismissed renewed US calls for its denuclearization, with Kim Yo Jong, the influential sister of leader Kim Jong Un, describing Washington's objective as an anachronistic dream and vowing that Pyongyang will continue to strengthen its nuclear capabilities.
Citing a report carried by state media, The New York Post said , Kim Yo Jong said North Korea's status as a nuclear weapons state could not be reversed and argued that US efforts to challenge that reality had no legally binding force.
“The US assertion to backbite the status of the DPRK as a nuclear weapons state has no legally binding force and no one will be bound by the US unilateral rhetoric,” she said, using the acronym for North Korea's official name.
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Kim also dismissed as false information a recent US claim that President Donald Trump and Chinese President Xi Jinping had reaffirmed a shared commitment to North Korea's denuclearization during talks in Beijing last month.
“Some officials in the United States have failed to wake from their escapist and anachronistic dream,” she said.
The remarks come a day before Xi is scheduled to arrive in Pyongyang for talks with Kim Jong Un, marking the Chinese leader's first visit to North Korea in seven years.
North Korea has accelerated efforts to expand its nuclear and missile capabilities since Kim Jong Un's diplomacy with Trump collapsed in 2019. Analysts say Pyongyang is seeking international recognition as a nuclear power, a move it believes could strengthen its case for sanctions relief.
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Last week, Kim Jong Un visited a nuclear materials production facility and said North Korea would expand its nuclear forces at an exponential rate.
State media on Sunday also reported that he had inspected a weapons factory and ordered a 2.5-fold increase in missile production capacity under the country's current five-year plan.
Kim Yo Jong accused the US and South Korea of pursuing ceaseless arms build-ups, arguing that her brother's policy of steadily beefing up the nuclear war deterrent for self-defense was an irreversible final conclusion to be carried out unconditionally.
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