North Korea on Monday rejected the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) Regional Forum's renewed call for the complete denuclearisation of the Korean Peninsula as a "foolish attempt."
Pyongyang also insisted that its status as a nuclear weapons state was "final and irreversible."
In a statement carried by the Korean Central News Agency, Kim Yo-jong condemned the chair's statement issued after the forum's recent foreign ministers' meeting in the Philippines.
Kim, a senior official of the ruling Workers' Party of Korea and the sister of North Korean leader Kim Jong-un, accused the forum of adopting a "hostile attitude."
She said the forum endorsed the US position on denuclearisation while disregarding North Korea's constitution, which defines the country as a nuclear weapons state.
"The act of the US and its vassal forces to change the status of the DPRK as a nuclear weapons state ... is nothing but a foolish attempt," she said, according to KCNA.
Nuclear deterrence is the ‘ultimate shield’
Kim argued that the concept of the "denuclearisation of the Korean Peninsula" had lost both its practical and conceptual meaning, describing continued calls for denuclearisation as a "stupid and foolish wild dream."
She said the forum should instead focus on promoting regional peace and security, adding that nuclear deterrence remained the "ultimate shield" for safeguarding the country's sovereignty.
Kim also vowed that North Korea would continue strengthening its nuclear capabilities "without a momentary stagnation."
The forum chair's statement reaffirmed support for the complete denuclearisation of the Korean Peninsula and expressed concern over North Korea's continued development of nuclear weapons and ballistic missile programmes.
