North Korea’s foreign minister criticized the G7 nations on Friday for their recent demand for the North to denuclearize and referred to them as “a tool for ensuring the U.S. hegemony.”
When the G-7’s senior diplomats recently convened in Japan, they jointly denounced North Korea’s most recent ballistic missile launches and reaffirmed their commitment to the objective of seeing North Korea completely give up its nuclear arsenal. Their statement served as a model for leaders at the G-7 meeting in Hiroshima, which will undoubtedly bring up North Korea’s nuclear programme once more, next month.
The G-7 nations of the United States, Japan, the United Kingdom, France, Germany, Canada, Italy, and the European Union have threatened to take unspecified “strong counteraction” if North Korea exhibits “any behavioural attempt” to infringe on its fundamental interests, according to North Korean Foreign Minister Choe Son Hui.
According to official media KCNA on Friday, North Korea’s possession of nuclear weapons will continue to be an obvious fact, and the country will keep bolstering its military until all military threats from the US and its allies are removed.
After their meeting on Tuesday in Japan, the G7 foreign ministers advocated denuclearization and denounced the North’s April 13 launch of what Pyongyang claimed to be an intercontinental ballistic missile using solid fuel. These remarks made North Korea upset.
CONTEXT
As U.S. and South Korean soldiers perform their yearly springtime military drills, tensions have risen in recent weeks as North Korea has increased military activity and promised “more practical and offensive” measures.
These drills have sparked an angry response from North Korea, which has dubbed them a practice for “an all-out, nuclear war.”
Even if Washington and other Western nations dispute it, Choe claimed that North Korea’s status as a nuclear state is “final and irreversible” and would always be an “undeniable and stark reality.”
Choe stated that Pyongyang would retaliate if the G7 nations attempted to breach its sovereignty or core interests by interfering with its domestic affairs by demanding denuclearization.
On April 18, 2023, High-ranking diplomats of the G7 democracies agreed to take a stern position against China’s escalating threats against Taiwan and North Korea’s unrestrained long-range missile launches, while also advancing plans for how to strengthen support for Ukraine and punish Russia for its invasion.
G7 officials in a statement added that Japan and other nearby nations are particularly concerned about North Korea.
Around 100 missiles have been tested by Pyongyang since last year, including intercontinental ballistic missiles that might have reached the U.S. mainland and many other shorter-range weapons that pose a danger to South Korea and Japan.
The G-7 Foreign Ministers strongly condemned North Korea’s repeated launches of ballistic missiles, and Hayashi expressed grave concern over North Korea’s launch of ballistic missiles with an unprecedented frequency and in an unprecedented manner, including the launch in the previous week.
Group of Seven (G7)
Group of Seven (G7) is a group of advanced economies consisting of Canada, France, Germany, Italy, Japan, the United Kingdom, and the United States. These countries have met together since 1970, to coordinate strategies on international concerns including trade, security, energy, and climate change since the energy crises of the 1970s.
In addition to regional and international institutions, the G7’s alternating presidency frequently invites guest nations to summit meetings. Since the Gleneagles Summit in 2005, when Britain held the presidency, the International Energy Agency (IEA) has collaborated closely with the group to provide policy recommendations on energy security and sustainable energy transitions.
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