In a rare UN appearance, senior North Korean diplomat insists his
country won't give up nukes
[September 30, 2025]
By EDITH M. LEDERER and JENNIFER PELTZ
UNITED NATIONS (AP) — A senior North Korean diplomat reiterated at the
U.N. Monday that his country won't give up its nuclear weapons despite
numerous international demands to do so, calling them crucial to keeping
a “balance of power” with South Korea. “We will never walk away from
this position,” he said.
Under the spotlight of the General Assembly's annual meeting of world
leaders, Vice Foreign Minister Kim Son Gyong amplified his country's
longstanding complaints about U.S.-led military exercises with South
Korea and Japan. Complaining that the U.S. and its allies are mounting a
“growing threat of aggression,” he portrayed his own country's arsenal
as the reason “the balance of power on the Korean Peninsula is ensured.”
Still, his address was more tempered, especially toward the United
States, than many of his country’s prior remarks on the world stage and
elsewhere. While Kim lambasted — without naming names — “hegemonic
forces” and an “indiscriminate tariff war,” there were no direct
references to U.S. President Donald Trump or personal insults, and there
was more sternness than over-the-top bellicosity.
Kim vowed that “we will never give up nuclear,” noting that North
Korea’s nuclear program is enshrined in its constitution.
He asserted that security on the Korean Peninsula “is faced with serious
challenges more than ever,” saying that the U.S.-Japanese-South Korean
exercises “are breaking all the previous records in terms of scale,
nature, frequency and scope.” The North routinely characterizes such war
games as preludes to an attack.
South Korea says military exercises necessary but wants `peaceful
coexistence'
South Korea, for its part, has said the recent trilateral military
exercises were necessary to counter North Korea’s growing nuclear and
missile threats. Numerous U.N. Security Council resolutions have
demanded that the North stop building nuclear weapons and ballistic
missiles.
But South Korean President Lee Jae Myung told the high-level meeting
last week that his new government “will begin a new journey toward
peaceful coexistence and shared growth on the Korean Peninsula.” He
said, “The first step will be to restore broken inter-Korean trust and
shift to a stance of mutual respect.”
North Korea's Kim did not respond to this overture in his speech.
Kim’s appearance at the United Nations marked the first time since 2018
that North Korea sent a senior diplomat to the General Assembly
gathering.
The U.N., he said, “should not feel relieved, nor congratulate
ourselves, on the non-occurrence of the World War III for the past 80
years. Instead, we should pay due attention to the fact that the
inducible threat has persisted and is now becoming more serious, and
take measures accordingly."
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Vice Minister for Foreign Affairs for North Korea Kim Son Gyong
addresses the 80th session of the United Nations General Assembly at
United Nations headquarters, Monday, Sept. 29, 2025. (AP Photo/Seth
Wenig)
The diplomat's appearance at the U.N. comes amid signs of renewed
interest in a possible meeting between its leader, Kim Jong Un, and
U.S. President Donald Trump.
Trump and the North Korean leader met three times in 2018-2019 as
Pyongyang was building a nuclear weapons stockpile, which Kim Jong
Un views as key to its the country’s security and his continued
authority in the northeast Asian nation. The talks collapsed over
U.S.-led sanctions against the North, and its leader has since
shunned any diplomacy with the U.S. and South Korea.
Since Trump returned to power in January, he has repeatedly
expressed hope of restarting talks with Kim. Last Monday, the North
Korean leader said he still has “good memories” of Trump but urged
the United States to drop its demand that the North surrender its
nuclear arms as a precondition for resuming diplomacy.
South Korean Foreign Minister Cho Hyun said in an Associated Press
interview on Friday that President Lee Jae Myung has asked Trump to
become “a peacemaker” and use his leadership to get North Korea to
talks to reduce military tensions on the Korean Peninsula.
Cho said Trump “expressed his willingness to be engaged with North
Korea again.”
Trump has an Asia visit upcoming
Trump is expected to visit South Korea next month to attend the
Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation summit, and some in the region
wonder if he could meet Kim Jong Un on that trip. Trump is expected
to meet with Chinese leader Xi Jinping during that meeting.
North Korea has always had close ties to neighboring China but in
recent years has focused on expanding cooperation with Russia,
another neighbor, by supplying combat troops and ammunitions to
support its war against Ukraine.
The leaders of North Korea and China recently held their first
summit in more than six years and pledged mutual support and
enhanced cooperation. That meeting followed a first-ever joint
appearance by the DPRK’s Kim, China’s President Xi Jinping and
Russian leader Vladimir Putin at a massive Beijing military parade
marking the end of the World War II.
At a follow-up meeting in Beijing on Sunday, the foreign ministers
of North Korea and China agreed to deepen their bilateral ties and
resist “hegemonism,” an apparent reference to their pushback against
the United States.
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