North Korean leader Kim Jong Un observes a weapons test in this image released by the Korean Central News Agency in August 2024. (KCNA)
North Korea’s official state media on Wednesday denounced as a “naïve dream” a pledge the South Korean president made on his first official visit to Washington, D.C. — to rid the Korean Peninsula of nuclear weapons.
The Korean Central News Agency published a scathing review of Lee Jae Myung’s remarks Monday at the Center for Strategic and International Studies, in which he said that President Donald Trump shares his goal of ridding the peninsula of nuclear weapons.
Lee’s first state visit to the White House earlier that day included a closed-door session with Trump.
KCNA described Lee’s goal as an “absurd hope” and likened it to “trying to catch a cloud floating in the sky.”
“We once again remind him of the fact that our position as a nuclear weapons state is an inevitable option that correctly reflects the hostile threat from outside,” the unsigned review states.
North Korea amended its constitution in 2023 to enshrine its pursuit of nuclear weapons. The communist regime has conducted six nuclear tests since 2006, most recently in 2017, and is believed to possess up to 50 nuclear weapons, according to a Stockholm International Peace Research Institute’s report June 2024.
Pyongyang claims its nuclear weapons program deters hostile policies and military threats from South Korea and the United States.
“In order to change our nuclear policy permanently fixed in the supreme law … it is necessary to change the world and the political and military environment on the Korean Peninsula,” KCNA reported Wednesday.
KCNA’s report criticized Lee and South Korea’s alliance with the U.S. but did not address Lee and Trump’s meeting.
Immediately following his speech Monday, Lee told a discussion panel that his meeting with Trump went “beyond my exceptions.”
“We increased our understanding, and I received a lot of encouragement from President Trump,” Lee said. “So, our meeting surpassed the planned time.”
Prior to meeting with Lee, Trump told reporters in the Oval Office that he was in good standing with North Korean leader Kim Jong Un and that he looked forward to meeting Kim again “in the appropriate future.”
Trump’s attempts to denuclearize North Korea fell apart in 2019 during his second summit meeting with Kim in Hanoi, Vietnam.
Trump said negotiations broke down over Kim’s request for a complete lifting of sanctions in exchange for North Korea dismantling a nuclear processing facility. KCNA disputed the account and reported it had only requested a partial sanctions relief for the facility closure.
