North Korea blames U.S. for driving global nuclear order into 'worst crisis'

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 its foreign ministry’s “memorandum” carried by the state-run Korean Central News Agency, hours after Vice Foreign Minister Kim Son-gyong told the United Nations 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 read.

Its rapid buildup of nuclear forces and “blatant” nuclear proliferation left Pyongyang no choice but to have a “more active role” as a “responsible nuclear-weapon state.”

The document cast the United States as the main culprit behind global nuclear proliferation, citing its nuclear buildup and modernization and its withdrawal from arms-control treaties.

Pyongyang also pointed to Washington’s nuclear-powered submarine cooperation with Seoul and Tokyo and to Aukus, a security partnership of the United States, 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 program, it claimed.

This “grave reality,” it said, will guide North Korea’s actions as it moves to “safeguard the security interests of [the] country and the region.”

Yonhap