In an address to the UN General Assembly, a top North Korea official explained that Pyongyang will never agree to give up its nuclear weapons. The US has demanded that denuclearization be part of any agreement with North Korea. 

Vice Minister for Foreign Affairs Kim Son Gyong said, “(The) imposition of ‘Denuclearization’ on the DPRK is tantamount to demanding it to surrender sovereignty and right to existence and violate the Constitution.” He continued, “We will never give up nuclear, which is our state law, national policy, and sovereign power as well as the right to existence. Under any circumstances, we will never walk away from this position.”

The remarks follow similar statements by North Korean Supreme Leader Kim Jong-un and his sister, Kim Yo-jong. Last week, Supreme Leader Kim said that he was open to talks with President Donald Trump if the US dropped its demand for denuclearization. 

“If the United States drops the absurd obsession with denuclearising us and accepts reality, and wants genuine peaceful coexistence, there is no reason for us not to sit down with the United States,” Kim said. “Personally, I still have fond memories of US President Trump.”

The remarks came at the conclusion of nuclear wargames conducted by the US, Japan, and South Korea. Pyongyang condemns the war games for “undermining regional stability and escalating military tension.”

In July, Kim’s sister Kim Yo-jong, who holds a senior position in the ruling party, said that North Korea was no longer interested in talks with South Korea and would only engage with the US. South Korean President Lee Jae Myung met with the President earlier this month and appealed to the President to facilitate talks with Pyongyang. 

Lee called for shifting the negotiation position with Pyongyang to accept North Korea as a nuclear weapons state in the short term. The South Korean leader noted that sanctions and isolation have been ineffective tools in pressuring North Korea. 

However, the Trump administration appears to be unwilling to adopt a more reasonable approach to deal with Pyongyang. Secretary of State Marco Rubio met with his South Korean and Japanese counterparts on the sidelines of the UN summit last week. A joint statement from the officials said, the countries retain their “resolute commitment to the complete denuclearization of North Korea.”