Pyongyang: North Korea on Friday accused South Korea, the United States, and Japan of exploiting this week's Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) forum to incite hostility by promoting a U.S.-led security bloc and pushing for North Korea's denuclearization, a path it claims is no longer viable.
According to Yonhap News Agency, the North's foreign ministry commented through state media on the series of meetings held in the Philippines, led by the 11-member ASEAN and key Indo-Pacific partners. Although North Korea is a participant in the ASEAN meetings, it has skipped the forum for two consecutive years, focusing instead on bilateral diplomacy with China and Russia.
The ministry's spokesperson criticized the U.S. and its allies for using the ASEAN stage to justify their intentions, which it claimed run contrary to the priorities of regional countries that focus on peace, development, stability, and cooperation. The spokesperson emphasized that Southeast Asia should not be used to promote U.S. interests or as a platform for criticizing other countries.
The spokesperson further claimed that Seoul, Washington, and Tokyo continue to pursue North Korea's denuclearization despite it being an "irreversibly and finally concluded" issue. The commentary dismissed attempts to infringe upon North Korea's constitutional rights and warned against the U.S.-led security and economic bloc, which it labeled as a threat to the global nuclear non-proliferation regime.
Despite these criticisms, North Korea expressed a positive view of ASEAN's role in promoting regional co-prosperity and committed to further developing relations with its member states. The country vowed to deter any hostile attempts to undermine its sovereign rights and to defend its national security interests, reaffirming its commitment to regional peace and cooperation.