North Korea Rejects Quad Call for Denuclearisation, Vows to Retain Nuclear Arsenal

North Korea on Thursday condemned the joint statement issued by the Quad nations calling for Pyongyang's complete denuclearisation, reiterating that it will never abandon its nuclear weapons program, according to South Korean news agency Yonhap.

The foreign ministers of the Quadrilateral Security Dialogue, comprising India, Australia, Japan, along with US Secretary of State Marco Rubio, reaffirmed their commitment to the "complete denuclearisation" of North Korea during their meeting in New Delhi on Tuesday.

In response, North Korea's foreign ministry accused the Quad of interfering in Pyongyang's sovereign affairs and serving as "nothing but a political and diplomatic tool serving the realisation of US unipolar dominance."

"We once again say there will never, ever be any denuclearisation of the DPRK," a spokesperson for the ministry said, using the acronym for North Korea's official name, the Democratic People's Republic of Korea.

Pyongyang also said it "flatly" rejects the "US-led" Quad's "hostile stance" against the country and strongly urged the grouping to halt "the pursuit of confrontation that undermines regional peace and stability."

How Did the Quad Criticise North Korea’s Missile and Cyber Activities?

The criticism followed the release of the Quad Foreign Ministers' Meeting Joint Statement on Tuesday, which said, "We reaffirm our commitment to the complete denuclearisation of North Korea in accordance with relevant UNSCRs and urge North Korea to abide by all its obligations under the relevant UNSCRs."

"We condemn North Korea's unlawful development of ballistic missiles and weapons of mass destruction. We also express grave concern over North Korea's malicious cyber activities, and IT worker activities, which fund North Korea's unlawful weapons of mass destruction and ballistic missile programs,” the statement added.

The Quad foreign ministers, along with the US Secretary of State, further said, "We will continue to support efforts to address contraventions of North Korea-related UNSCRs. We urge all UN Member States to abide by their international obligations under the UNSCRs to implement sanctions, including the prohibition on the transfer to North Korea or procurement from North Korea of all arms and related materiel."

Expressing concern over Pyongyang's growing defence ties with other countries, the statement said, "We express deep concern about countries that are deepening military cooperation with North Korea, which directly undermines the global non-proliferation regime."

The ministers also "reconfirmed the necessity of immediate resolution of the abductions issue."

(With inputs from ANI)