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N. Korea slams denuclearization as 'pipe dream' ahead of Lee-Xi summit

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By Yonhap
  • Published KST
  • Updated KST
President Lee Jae Myung shakes hands with Chinese President Xi Jinping upon Xi's arrival at the Gyeongju Hwabaek Internationalg Convention Center, the main venue for the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation Leaders Meeting, in the city of Gyeongju, Friday. Yonhap

President Lee Jae Myung shakes hands with Chinese President Xi Jinping upon Xi's arrival at the Gyeongju Hwabaek Internationalg Convention Center, the main venue for the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation Leaders Meeting, in the city of Gyeongju, Friday. Yonhap

North Korea said Saturday that denuclearization of the Korean Peninsula was a "pipe dream" that can never be realized, after Seoul said President Lee Jae Myung and Chinese President Xi Jinping are set to discuss the issue during their summit.

Lee and Xi are scheduled to hold their first summit Saturday on the sidelines of the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation (APEC) Leaders Meeting in the southeastern city of Gyeongju. The Presidential Office said denuclearization of the Korean Peninsula was on the agenda.

North Korea's Vice Foreign Minister Pak Myong-ho criticized South Korea for seeking to raise the denuclearization issue whenever an opportunity arises, according to the Korean Central News Agency (KCNA).

"We will show with patience that denuclearization is a 'pipe dream' which can never be realized even if it talks about it a thousand times," Pak said in a statement carried by the KCNA.

He said South Korea still remains unaware that "struggling to deny the DPRK's position as a nuclear weapons state and talking about its daydream of realizing the denuclearization just reveals its lack of common sense."

DPRK is the acronym of North Korea's official name, the Democratic People's Republic of Korea.

While the North protested the South Korean Presidential Office's announcement on the denuclearization agenda, it also seemed to express discomfort with China over the issue ahead of the Lee-Xi summit.

In May last year, North Korea denounced South Korea for stating its commitment to denuclearization of the peninsula in a joint declaration issued after the trilateral summit among leaders of South Korea, China and Japan. The North rejected it as "wanton interference in North Korea's internal affairs."