A spokesperson for the DPRK Foreign Ministry issued the following press statement titled “QUAD should stop unilateral coercive act to change the present position of the Democratic People’s Republic of Korea” on July 3:

Recently, with the QUAD foreign ministers’ meeting as an occasion, the US committed another grave political provocation of denying the legitimate sovereign rights of our state and insisting on “denuclearization.”

The US hegemonic act of interfering in the internal affairs of other independent sovereign states, stirring up confrontation among camps and creating instability in the international relations by relying on exclusive minority groups like QUAD, is working as a major risk factor hindering peace and security in the region and the rest of the world.

The DPRK Foreign Ministry strongly denounces and rejects the US malicious act of clearly exposing its invariable hostile intention against the DPRK, wantonly encroaching upon the dignity and rights and interests of our state, and expresses serious concern over the negative consequences to be entailed by it.

It is none other than the US which is attempting at unilateral change in the status quo by force or coercive way in the Asia-Pacific region including the Korean peninsula.

Nothing can change the position of the Democratic People’s Republic of Korea as a nuclear weapons state which has been permanently fixed by the supreme law of the state and physically proved.

It is anachronistic, contradictory and self-deceptive for the US which has caused serious losses to global peace and security through its radical nuclear weapons modernization and illegal use of military forces to talk about someone’s “denuclearization.”

The US attempt to deny the present position of the Democratic People’s Republic of Korea is not only the gravest violation of sovereignty but also a dangerous act which creates instability in the region and aggravates the situation.

It is within the inherent scope of the sovereignty of our state to take appropriate and corresponding countermeasures of self-defensive nature against such provocative military actions as the US moves to strengthen the multilateral military alliance threatening the security of the region and joint military drills of clear aggressive character.

We will never tolerate the attempt of the US and its vassal forces to unilaterally change the position of the DPRK and the current situation on the Korean peninsula. We will continue to make responsible efforts to ensure peace in the region and the rest of the world, strictly based on the reality in which the US hostile policy towards the DPRK is becoming more undisguised.

KCNA