On Tuesday, North Korea slammed a joint statement by G7 foreign ministers that criticized the country’s nuclear program, asserting the grouping of rich democracies should be “dismantled immediately”.
In a statement issued last week, the top diplomats of Canada, France, Germany, Italy, Japan, the UK, the United States, and the European Union reiterated their longstanding call for the “complete denuclearization of the Korean Peninsula”.
The G7 foreign ministers also urged that North Korea abandon its nuclear weapons, and strongly condemned recent arms transfers from North Korea to Russia, asking the two nations to “immediately cease all such activities”.
Pyongyang last year declared itself an “irreversible” nuclear power and has repeatedly said it will never give up its nuclear program, which the regime views as essential for its survival.
Jo Chol Su, a high-ranking official at Pyongyang’s foreign ministry, said he “resolutely” rejects and “most strongly” condemns the recent G7 statement, calling it “groundless”.
He said members of the G7, particularly the United States, have “disgraceful records by doing considerable harm to international peace and security”, and that the group “has lost the justification for its existence”.
The “G7, the remnant of the Cold War, should be dismantled immediately,” Jo said, according to Pyongyang’s state-run Korean Central News Agency.
He accused the group of being a “peace strangler, confrontation maniac and nuclear war merchant”.
Historic backers Russia and North Korea are both under international sanctions — the former for its attack on Ukraine and the latter for its nuclear weapons and missile programs.
Their increasing military cooperation has been a source of regard for Ukraine and its allies, particularly following North Korean leader Kim Jong Un’s summit with Russian President Vladimir Putin in September.
Pyongyang, using the North’s official name, said Saturday that “no matter what others may say, the friendly and cooperative ties between the DPRK and Russia aspiring after independence, peace and friendship will steadily grow stronger”.
US and South Korean defiance chiefs on Monday updated for the first time in a decade a key military agreement to counter Pyongyang, part of the backers’ measure to build up defense cooperation in the face of the North’s growing nuclear threats.
