Pyongyang: North Korea criticized the recent statement issued by the United States, Australia, Japan, and India calling for its denuclearization, accusing the Quad security alliance of trying to change Pyongyang’s position “by coercion.”

According to National Iraqi News Agency, the North Korean Foreign Ministry issued this criticism days after the foreign ministers of the US-led Quad affirmed their commitment to North Korea’s complete denuclearization in a statement adopted during their meeting in Washington.

The North Korean Foreign Ministry described this move as a “serious political provocation,” accusing the United States of “attempting to unilaterally change the status quo” on the Korean Peninsula “by force or coercion.”

It stated that it “strongly condemns and rejects the malicious behavior of the United States, which clearly revealed its unwavering hostile intentions against” North Korea, expressing “grave concern over the negative consequences that may result.”

It also accused the United States of interfering in the sovereignty of an independent state, provoking confrontations, and destabilizing international relations, claiming that it constitutes a major threat to peace and security in the region and the world.

The Ministry added, “Nothing can change North Korea’s status as a nuclear state,” warning that it has the sovereign right to take “appropriate countermeasures of a defensive nature.”