The Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) has urged the denuclearization of the Korean Peninsula. On the 27th, Kim Yo-jong, Minister of the Central Committee of the Workers' Party of Korea, denounced ASEAN's stance as a "foolish and absurd illusion." She emphasized that ASEAN should be wary of "being used by the United States and reduced to being America's mouthpiece."
Kim Yo-jong is the sister of North Korean leader Kim Jong-un. At the ASEAN Foreign Ministers’ Meetings on July 23, ASEAN foreign ministers expressed serious concern over North Korea’s continued development of nuclear weapons and emphasized that dialogue is crucial for achieving "lasting peace and stability on the Korean Peninsula through denuclearization."
North Korea has always insisted on its right to develop nuclear weapons and ballistic missiles, even though the United Nations Security Council has imposed sanctions restricting North Korea’s development of such weapons. As early as 2023, North Korea enshrined its status as a nuclear weapons state in its constitution.
Kim Yo-jong, in a statement published by the official North Korean Central News Agency, expressed strong dissatisfaction with ASEAN’s "open cooperation with the United States in touting 'denuclearization' and ignoring North Korea’s constitution," which she views as a hostile attitude.
She said: "Adhering to the stance of 'denuclearization of the Korean Peninsula' has lost all significance both conceptually and practically. To continue to insist on this stance is a complete failure of strategic thinking and logic—this is a foolish and absurd illusion."
As a key spokesperson and foreign policy figure for North Korea, Kim Yo-jong stated in June that North Korea’s nuclear program is an “absolutely non-negotiable bottom line.”