North Korea denounces G7 statement urging abandonment of nuclear weapons

North Korea has lambasted a recent Group of Seven (G7) statement, calling it an act of meddling in domestic matters, Yonhap media agency reported on December 18. The statement urges the country to give up nuclear weapons and desist from provocation.

Top G7 diplomats have reiterated a statement from earlier this year, urging North Korea to stop "provocative actions" and return to denuclearization talks. The remarks were made at the G7 Foreign and Development Ministers meeting in Liverpool, United Kingdom, over the weekend, where delegates expressed concern about North Korea's nuclear and missile developments, among other things.

In a statement, Conservative MP Elizabeth Truss, the UK's secretary of state for international, commonwealth, and development affairs, said, "we welcomed the readiness of the United States to continue its efforts in that regard and remain committed to providing support."

'Intolerable act of provocation'

The North's foreign ministry stated in a post shared on its website that "such remarks constitute an aggressive violation of sovereignty, which tries to deny the exercise of its rights by a sovereign nation, as well as foreign interference and an intolerable act of provocation."

The G7 nations reaffirmed the goal of the complete, verifiable, and irreversible abandonment of all of the North's weapons of mass destruction and ballistic missile programmes in accordance with relevant UNSC resolutions in a chair statement released after the G7 foreign and development ministers' meeting.

According to Yonhap, North Korea stated, "rather than fomenting distrust and confrontation, the G7 should focus more on its original mission of addressing their economic issues."

Pyongyang has carried out a number of missile tests in recent months, including a submarine-launched ballistic missile test in October and a hypersonic missile test in September. Pyongyang's test of the hypersonic missile was described as another escalation step by France's permanent mission to the United Nations.

According to AP, the France's mission expressed confidence that the UN Security Council would "urge the DPRK to stop these provocations, to comply with Security Council resolutions and to get back to the negotiating table."

'Korean Peninsula' instead of 'North Korea'

After appearing in the June summit statement, the phrase full denuclearization of the Korean Peninsula was removed from the most recent G7 communiqué. When considering disarmament on the peninsula, referring to the Korean Peninsula rather than North Korea is frequently a deliberate political decision, as North Korea prefers the former phrasing. For example, at the 2018 US-DPRK summit in Singapore, Washington agreed to advocate for denuclearization of the "Korean Peninsula" rather than complete, verifiable, and irreversible denuclearization (CVID) of 'North Korea.'

For its part, the United States continues to offer North Korea discussions anytime, anyplace, without any preconditions. Pyongyang has continued to reject the Biden administration's advances. The G7 is an informal international forum comprised of the United States, the United Kingdom, Canada, France, Germany, Italy, and Japan.

(With inputs from agencies)

Image: AP