▲ Australian Foreign Minister Penny Wong (L), Indian Foreign Minister Subrahmanyam Jaishankar (2nd from L), Japanese Foreign Minister Toshimitsu Motegi (2nd from R) and U.S. Secretary of State Marco Rubio address a joint press conference following their Quad Foreign Ministers meeting at Hyderabad House in New Delhi on May 26, 2026, in this photo released by AFP. (PHOTO NOT FOR SALE) (Yonhap)

N Korea-Quad

N. Korea slams Quad statement calling for Pyongyang's denuclearization

SEOUL, May 28 (Yonhap) -- North Korea on Thursday denounced a recent joint statement by the top diplomats of the United States, Australia, Japan and India that called for the North's complete denuclearization, reiterating that it will never abandon its nuclear weapons.

The foreign ministers of the four nations, known as the U.S.-led multilateral security grouping of the Quad, reaffirmed their commitment to the "complete" denuclearization of North Korea in a joint statement issued Tuesday after their meeting in New Delhi.

North Korea's foreign ministry said the Quad took issue with the North's legitimate exercise of sovereignty, claiming it is nothing but a political and diplomatic tool serving the realization of U.S. unipolar dominance.

"We once again say there will never, ever be any denuclearization of the DPRK," a spokesperson at the ministry said, using the acronym of North Korea's official name, the Democratic People's Republic of Korea.

North Korea said it "flatly" rejects the U.S.-led Quad's hostile stance against Pyongyang while strongly calling on it to stop the pursuit of confrontation that undermines regional peace and stability.

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