▲ President Lee Jae Myung delivers a speech at the Center for Strategic and International Studies in Washington on Aug. 25, 2025. (Yonhap)

(LEAD) Lee-N Korea

(LEAD) Pyongyang slams Lee for having 'delusion' about denuclearization of N. Korea

(ATTN: UPDATES with more details throughout)

By Kim Soo-yeon

SEOUL, Aug. 27 (Yonhap) -- North Korea on Wednesday denounced President Lee Jae Myung for being delusional about denuclearization of the North, stressing that the country will never give up its nuclear weapons.

The North's criticism came after Lee said during a speech in Washington that he and U.S. President Donald Trump agreed during their summit Monday (local time) to work closely to "establish peace and denuclearization on the Korean Peninsula."

North Korea denounced South Korea for harboring a "vain" hope for North Korea's denuclearization, calling it a "futile delusion."

"If Lee Jae Myung continues to have a 'delusion of denuclearization' as a hereditary disease, (he) should know it will not be helpful for not only the Republic of Korea but also anybody," the Korean Central News Agency (KCNA) said, using South Korea's official name.

North Korea defended the possession of nuclear weapons, claiming it was an inevitable choice to deter threats from its enemies and adapt to a change in the global security dynamics.

"We have an invariable stance that we will never give up nuclear (arms)," the KCNA said.

The North also called South Korea an "enemy state" that has set its confrontational policy against North Korea as a national strategy, claiming the Lee Jae Myung administration is not an exception.

In a speech at the Center for Strategic and International Studies in Washington on Monday, Lee said his country will comply with the Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty (NPT) regime and strictly keep its commitment to denuclearization.

Before heading to the U.S. for the summit with Trump, Lee said in an interview with Japan's Yomiuri Shimbun that he will pursue a three-stage denuclearization plan for North Korea, starting from a freeze on the North's nuclear and missile programs in the first stage.

Since taking office in June, Lee has vowed to mend frayed ties with North Korea and seek to resume inter-Korean dialogue. But Pyongyang has rebuffed Lee's peace overtures, saying it has no will to improve relations with Seoul.

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