North Korean state media published a statement reaffirming its commitment to maintain nuclear weapons in response to the US, Japan, and South Korea issuing a statement calling for the Korean Peninsula to be free of nuclear weapons. 

On Monday, Secretary of State Marco Rubio met with South Korean Foreign Minister Cho Hyun and Japanese Foreign Minister Toshimitsu Motegi on the sidelines of the UN General Assembly summit. 

“Regarding North Korea, the three Ministers reaffirmed that they would further strengthen coordination among the three countries, including the consistent support from the governments of the US and the ROK (the official acronym for South Korea) regarding the immediate resolution of the abductions issue,” the joint statement from the three diplomats said. “They also reaffirmed their commitment to the complete denuclearization of North Korea in accordance with the United Nations Security Council resolutions.”

Pyongyang quickly rejected the demand. North Korean state media, KCNA, published a response to the statement from Foreign Minister Choe Son Hui titled, “The DPRK remains unchanged in its will to keep nuclear weapons forever.”

“The US, Japan and the ROK fully expressed their anachronistic and confrontational nature once again to remain invariably hostile to the DPRK (the official acronym for North Korea) by raising the unrealistic “denuclearization” target.” Choe continued, “As the foreign minister of the DPRK, I reaffirm and reconfirm in the strongest tone of voice the steadfast will of our state to keep nuclear weapons through all ages, which is irreversible in any case and will remain unchanged forever.”

Last month, President Donald Trump said he wanted to meet with Supreme Leader Kim Jong Un later this year. Pyongyang maintains it will not engage with Washington until the US drops its hostile policy toward North Korea and the demand for denuclearization. 

On Tuesday, Trump met with South Korean President Lee Jae Myung on the sidelines of the UN summit. Lee has urged Trump to restart negotiations between Washington and Pyongyang.