[Gyeongju APEC] North Korea Dismisses South Korea-China Leaders' "Denuclearization Talks" as a "Pipe Dream"

As it became known that the leaders of South Korea and China would hold a summit on the afternoon of November 1 to discuss the "denuclearization of the Korean Peninsula," North Korea responded by calling the idea a "pipe dream."

According to the Korean Central News Agency on the same day, Park Myungho, Vice Minister of Foreign Affairs of North Korea, issued a statement in his own name the previous day, saying, "No matter how many times you talk about denuclearization, whether a hundred, a thousand, or ten thousand times, we will patiently show that it is an absolute pipe dream that can never be realized."

Vice Minister Park criticized, "South Korea tries to bring up the issue of denuclearization of the Korean Peninsula at every opportunity," adding, "The very act of stubbornly denying the Democratic People's Republic of Korea's status as a nuclear-armed state and still clinging to the delusion of achieving denuclearization only exposes South Korea's ignorance, yet they remain unaware of this fact."

Earlier, Kang Yujeong, spokesperson for the presidential office, held a briefing and said, "President Lee Jaemyung and Chinese President Xi Jinping have agreed to discuss the issue of denuclearization and the realization of peace on the Korean Peninsula as part of the summit agenda."