North Korea says nuclear weapons state status 'irreversible'

North Korea declared on Sunday, 14 June 2026, that its status as a nuclear weapons state was "irreversibly finalized", rejecting renewed calls from the United States, South Korea and Japan for the complete denuclearization of the Korean Peninsula.

An unnamed spokesperson for North Korea's foreign ministry issued the statement, which was carried by the official Korean Central News Agency (KCNA). The spokesperson described calls to disarm Pyongyang as "an unreasonable talk and fantastic daydream".

The statement followed two recent rounds of security consultations among the three allies. The United States and South Korea reaffirmed their shared denuclearization goal at a Nuclear Consultative Group meeting on Thursday, 11 June 2026, according to Yonhap News Agency.

Separately, the United States and Japan reaffirmed their commitment to North Korea's "complete denuclearization" at a bilateral Extended Deterrence Dialogue held the previous week. South Korea's Ministry of Foreign Affairs said the allies also reaffirmed this commitment at a trilateral meeting in Tokyo on Friday, 12 June 2026.

Responding to these talks, the North Korean spokesperson said: "The US and its vassal forces' meaningless rhetoric against the DPRK and cooperation in posing a nuclear threat to it can never affect the irreversible position of the DPRK as a nuclear weapons state."

DPRK refers to North Korea's official name, the Democratic People's Republic of Korea. The spokesperson used "ROK", the acronym for South Korea's official name, the Republic of Korea, when addressing Seoul directly.

"No matter how hard the US, Japan and the ROK may quibble, they will never change the present position of the DPRK as a nuclear weapons state," the spokesperson said.

The spokesperson added that "the 'denuclearization' is an irreversibly finalized matter", and that "no one can recover the 'denuclearization' permanently missed in the trend of the times", in an apparent reference to the breakdown of denuclearization talks between Pyongyang and Washington.

Kim Yo-jong's remarks

The statement echoes recent comments by Kim Yo-jong, the sister of North Korean leader Kim Jong-un, who earlier this month described Pyongyang's nuclear policy as a "line of no retreat".

North Korea has consistently portrayed its nuclear arsenal as essential to deterrence, citing US arms sales to South Korea and Japan as justification. The spokesperson described the North's nuclear programme as "a strong security guarantee for regional stability and peace".

Background to the standoff

North Korea has accelerated its nuclear weapons programme since denuclearization talks with Washington collapsed in 2019. A summit between Kim Jong-un and then US President Donald Trump in Hanoi ended that year without an agreement.

The latest statement comes after Kim Jong-un hosted Chinese President Xi Jinping (習近平) in Pyongyang. The visit followed separate summits Xi held in Beijing with Trump and Russian President Vladimir Putin.

According to official media reports from both North Korea and China, denuclearization was not raised during the Pyongyang meeting between Kim Jong-un and Xi Jinping.