ISTANBUL

North Korea on Friday strongly criticized the Quad countries -- the US, Australia, India and Japan, for “coercive acts” following a joint rebuke of Pyongyang’s nuclear ambitions.

On Thursday, the North Korean Foreign Ministry “strongly denounced and rejected the malicious act by the US of clearly exposing its invariable hostile intention," against North Korea, as well as expressing "serious concern over the negative consequences to be entailed by it," according to a statement issued Friday on Korean Central News Agency (KCNA).

The statement was in response to the Quad countries condemning North Korea's "pursuit of nuclear weapons" on Tuesday.

"It is none other than the US, which is attempting to unilaterally change the existing situation by force or (in a) coercive way in the Asia-Pacific region, including the Korean peninsula," said a ministry spokesperson, adding that nothing can sway Pyongyang's position as a nuclear-armed state.

Washington's "attempt to deny" Pyongyang's position “is not only the gravest violation of sovereignty but also a dangerous act of escalating tension which creates instability in the region and escalates the tension," it added.

It is among the rights of Pyongyang to "take appropriate and reflective countermeasures of the self-defensive nature against such provocative military actions as the US moves to strengthen the multilateral military alliance threatening the security of the region and (holds) joint military drills with a clear aggressive character," it said.

North Korea "will never tolerate the attempt of the US and its vassal forces to unilaterally change the position of the DPRK (Democratic People's Republic of Korea) and the current situation on the Korean peninsula."

In a joint statement after a foreign ministerial meeting Tuesday in Washington, the Quad countries condemned North Korea’s "destabilizing launches using ballistic missile technology and its continued pursuit of nuclear weapons in violation of multiple UN Security Council resolutions (UNSCRs)."

The four countries expressed a commitment to the "complete denuclearization of the Korean Peninsula consistent with relevant UNSCRs,” and urged “North Korea to abide by all its obligations under the UNSCRs."