Indo-Pacific — 2026-09-26

North Korean FM Declares Will to Keep Nuclear Weapons Through All Ages Is Irreversible

BLUFPyongyang is cementing nuclear status as a precondition for any diplomacy, narrowing viable negotiating space to arms control rather than denuclearization.

North Korean Foreign Minister Choe Son Hui said on Thursday her government's "will to keep nuclear weapons through all ages" is "irreversible in any case and will remain unchanged forever," in a statement carried by KCNA 1. Choe issued the statement in response to a trilateral joint statement by the US, Japan and South Korea released Monday on the sidelines of the UN General Assembly reaffirming their commitment to North Korea's "complete" denuclearization 12. She said Pyongyang's status as a nuclear weapons state "will be everlasting" and that "the coexistence of confrontation and dialogue" is not workable for the DPRK 13. The statement came a day after South Korean President Lee Jae Myung told the UN General Assembly he sought a Korean Peninsula "free from nuclear weapons" and pledged to help lay groundwork for renewed US-North Korea dialogue 3.

Analysis
Choe's statement, resting on a single KCNA-carried release republished without independent sourcing by other outlets, functions as a floor-setting move ahead of any Trump-Kim contact, foreclosing denuclearization as a starting condition rather than an outcome and pushing Seoul's "groundwork" pledge toward accepting Pyongyang as a de facto nuclear state as the price of talks. Pyongyang has sharpened its target from last week's IAEA resolution to the trilateral statement and Lee's UN remarks directly, reinforcing that it treats nuclear status as non-negotiable regardless of diplomatic overtures. The rhetoric may instead be calibrated messaging meant to strengthen Pyongyang's negotiating position before any Trump-Kim meeting rather than a rejection of dialogue itself, a distinction that determines whether Seoul's outreach can proceed on denuclearization terms or must be reframed around arms-control coexistence.

4 sources

Press Statement of DPRK Foreign Minister - KCNA (via GlobalSecurity.org)
Pyongyang's foreign minister says North's will to keep nuclear weapons 'irreversible' - Korea JoongAng Daily
North Korea to keep nuclear weapons 'forever': foreign minister - France24 (AFP)
N. Koreas will to keep nuclear weapons through all ages irreversible FM - Korea Times