North Korea tells UN: We will never give up nuclear program

UNITED NATIONS, Sept 29 (Reuters) - North Korea will never give up its nuclear program, the country's Vice Foreign Minister Kim Son Gyong told the United Nations General Assembly on Monday, describing it as "tantamount to demanding it to surrender sovereignty and right to existence."

It was the first time North Korea had dispatched an official from Pyongyang to address the annual gathering of world leaders for the General Assembly since the country's foreign minister traveled to New York in 2018.

"Imposition of 'denuclearization' on the DPRK is tantamount to demanding it to surrender sovereignty and right to existence and violate the Constitution," said Kim, referring to the country's formal name, the Democratic People's Republic of Korea. "We will never give up sovereignty, abandon the right to existence and violate the Constitution."

"Thanks to our state's enhanced physical war deterrent in direct proportion to the growing threat of aggression of the U.S. and its allies, the will of the enemy states to provoke a war is thoroughly contained and the balance of power on the Korean peninsula is ensured," he said.

U.S. President Donald Trump said last month that he wanted to meet North Korean leader Kim Jong Un this year. Since Trump's January inauguration, Kim has ignored Trump's repeated calls to revive the direct diplomacy he pursued during his 2017-2021 term in office, which produced no deal to halt North Korea's nuclear program.

'NEVER WALK AWAY'

However, last week Kim said there was no reason to avoid talks with the U.S. if Washington stopped insisting his country give up nuclear weapons, but he would never abandon the nuclear arsenal to end sanctions, state media reported.

"We will never give up nuclear which is our state law, national policy and sovereign power as well as the right to existence. Under any circumstances, we will never walk away from this position," the vice foreign minister told the U.N. General Assembly.

North Korea has been under U.N. Security Council sanctions since 2006, and the measures have been steadily strengthened over the years with the aim of halting Pyongyang's development of nuclear weapons and ballistic missiles.

But Russia and China now insist that U.N. sanctions on North Korea should be eased on humanitarian grounds and in a bid to convince Pyongyang to restart negotiations.

Russia has also forged closer diplomatic and military ties with North Korea since invading Ukraine in February 2022 and Russian President Vladimir Putin and Kim have visited each other's countries. Russia is using North Korean troops to battle Ukrainian forces.