N. Korea blames US for 'worse crisis' in nuclear order, justifies its arsenal
North Korea's Vice Minister of Foreign Affairs Kim Son-gyong addresses the 81st session of the United Nations General Assembly at United Nations headquarters, Monday (local time). AP-Yonhap
North Korea on Tuesday accused the United States of driving the global nuclear order into "the worst crisis" through its "nuclear proliferation activities" and used the accusation to defend its own nuclear program.
The accusation came in a foreign ministry's "memorandum" carried by the Korean Central News Agency (KCNA), hours after Vice Foreign Minister Kim Son-gyong told the U.N. General Assembly in New York that North Korea's nuclear program is an "irresistible" force needed to protect its sovereignty and security against external threats.
Washington has "irresponsibly abandoned its disarmament obligations as a nuclear-weapon state," the memorandum said.
Its rapid buildup of nuclear forces and "blatant" nuclear proliferation, it said, left Pyongyang no choice but to "play a more active role" "as a responsible nuclear-weapon state."
The document cast the U.S. as the main culprit behind global nuclear proliferation, citing its nuclear buildup and modernization and its withdrawal from arms-control treaties.
North Korea also pointed to U.S. nuclear-powered submarine cooperation with Seoul and Tokyo, and to AUKUS, a security partnership of the U.S., Britain and Australia, as evidence of a nuclear alliance taking shape in the Asia-Pacific region.
Such cooperation could eventually lead South Korea to develop its own nuclear weapons programs, it claimed.
This "grave reality," it said, will guide North Korea's actions as it moves to "safeguard the security interests of our country and the region."