A spokesperson for the Foreign Ministry of the Democratic People’s Republic of Korea (DPRK) issued a strongly worded response on May 28 to a question from KCNA regarding the recent foreign ministers’ meeting of the Quadrilateral Security Dialogue, an Indo-Pacific security grouping comprising the United States, Japan, India, and Australia. The statement focused on the joint communiqué released after the meeting, which included references critical of the DPRK and broader regional security concerns.
According to the spokesperson, the joint statement “seriously distorted” urgent challenges in the Asia-Pacific and exposed what it described as hostile intentions toward specific countries. It accused the QUAD of using concerns over maritime issues in the South and East China seas to justify military developments, including Japan’s defense expansion and Australia’s acquisition of nuclear-powered submarines, arguing that these developments have heightened international concern rather than stability.
The DPRK further criticized the establishment of a new “Critical Minerals Initiative Framework” agreed upon by QUAD members, describing it as exclusive and confrontational in nature. The statement claimed it reflects a broader United States strategy to maintain dominance over global supply chains by expanding security concepts into the economic domain, thereby deepening geopolitical competition.
In particular, the spokesperson objected to the QUAD’s inclusion of criticism of the DPRK’s nuclear program and its renewed call for “denuclearization.” The ministry asserted that such positions confirm the grouping functions as a political and diplomatic instrument serving what it called a U.S.-led agenda of unipolar dominance. It also reiterated that the DPRK’s pursuit of nuclear capability is a sovereign matter and declared that “denuclearization of the DPRK will never happen forever.”
Concluding its remarks, the Foreign Ministry rejected what it described as hostile actions by the QUAD and urged an end to what it called attempts to intensify bloc-based confrontation in the region. It stated that the DPRK would continue to defend its sovereignty, security interests, and development rights while opposing exclusive alliances, calling instead for mutual trust, cooperation, and regional coexistence.
