North Korea accuses G7 of double standards over denuclearization call

• Foreign Minister Choe Son Hui says Pyongyang’s nuclear arsenal is most correct option to deter what it calls dangerous hostile states
• G7 foreign ministers strongly condemn North Korea’s nuclear and ballistic missile programs and call for complete denuclearization

ANKARA

North Korea accused the Group of Seven nations on Thursday of applying a “double-standard” after the G7 foreign ministers again called for its “complete denuclearization,” denouncing the bloc’s position as hostile and unconstitutional.

North Korean Foreign Minister Choe Son Hui, in a statement issued through the state-run Korean Central News Agency, said the G7’s latest joint communique from Canada “ignored and violated” North Korea’s Constitution.

"I express strong dissatisfaction and regret at the undisguised hostile act of G7 foreign ministers, a direct violation of our state's Constitution, and categorically denounce and reject it by using the most powerful rhetorical expression," she said.

Choe argued that in the current “grim geopolitical environment,” Pyongyang’s possession of nuclear weapons remains the most correct option to deter what she described as the most dangerous and hostile states.

"No one has the right to force us to violate the Constitution and they should not try to make us amend it," she said.

She added that way of ensuring the peace and stability on the Korean peninsula and in the Asia-Pacific region is not the advocating of the unrealistic "denuclearization" but the respecting of the Constitution of North Korea.

Choe reiterated leader Kim Jong Un’s stance that North Korea’s nuclear forces are now a permanent reality, whether the US and its allies like it or not.

"No matter how repeatedly they may clamor for 'denuclearization' for 10 or 20 years, nay 50 or 100 years," she said.

She accused the G7 of lacking the authority to dictate security choices to sovereign nations.

"The evasive and double-standard behavior of G7, which remains silent about the reckless nuclear rhetoric threat and nuclear proliferation attempt openly manifested in its group and insists only on someone's 'denuclearization' that has already lost its meaning and justification, cannot go down with anyone," she said.

The G7 foreign ministers said they “strongly condemned” North Korea’s nuclear and ballistic missile programs and reaffirmed their commitment to its “complete denuclearization.”

They also voiced “grave concern” over Pyongyang’s cryptocurrency thefts and urged a swift resolution to the issue of abductions.