Kim Yo Jong Blasts ASEAN 'Stupid and Foolish' on Nukes
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- Kim Yo Jong attacked ASEAN on July 27 for seeking a denuclearised Korean peninsula, calling the position 'stupid and foolish' and accusing the bloc of being a 'hired mouthpiece for the US' in a KCNA statement.
- ASEAN had expressed 'grave concern' over Pyongyang's nuclear development at its annual regional forum on July 23, stressing dialogue 'to realise lasting peace and stability in a denuclearised Korean Peninsula.'
- North Korea enshrined its nuclear status in its Constitution in 2023, making the denuclearisation framework ASEAN still endorses formally incompatible with Pyongyang's charter.
- Pyongyang has called itself an 'irreversible' nuclear state since Kim Jong Un's 2019 summit with Donald Trump collapsed over the scope of denuclearisation and sanctions relief.
Why it matters: North Korea enshrined nuclear weapons in its Constitution in 2023, making ASEAN's July 23 'grave concern' statement constitutionally incompatible with Pyongyang's charter. Kim Yo Jong had already declared in June that the nuclear programme is 'the line of no retreat,' and the 2019 Trump-Kim summit collapse over sanctions relief remains the stated pivot point for Pyongyang's 'irreversible' framing.
