North Korea Calls South’s Lee ‘Hypocrite’ for Renewed Denuclearization Drive

North Korea’s official Korean Central News Agency on Wednesday denounced South Korean President Lee Jae Myung as a “hypocrite” suffering from “denuclearization paranoia,” rejecting his renewed call to dismantle Pyongyang’s atomic arsenal. The commentary said any expectation that the North would give up its weapons was “a futile delusion” and insisted the country’s nuclear status is “an inevitable choice” that will be maintained permanently. Lee urged a path toward a nuclear-free Korean Peninsula during a speech at the Center for Strategic and International Studies in Washington on Aug. 25, delivered while he was in the U.S. for his first summit with President Donald Trump. He told the audience the South Korea-U.S. alliance could be “upgraded to a global level” once denuclearization, peace and coexistence are achieved. Trump, at the bilateral meeting the same day, signaled interest in another meeting with North Korean leader Kim Jong Un later this year, according to South Korean and Japanese media. KCNA’s critique omitted any direct mention of Trump but accused Lee of posturing for confrontation and exposing his “true nature” to the world. The outlet reaffirmed that the North’s nuclear forces are non-negotiable, saying the weapons underpin national dignity and security in the face of external threats. Since winning a snap presidential election in June, Lee has taken modest steps aimed at lowering inter-Korean tensions, including taking down anti-North loudspeakers along the border and instructing officials to revisit past rapprochement agreements. Pyongyang’s latest broadside underscores the limits of those gestures and highlights the strategic impasse that persists despite Washington and Seoul’s appeals for renewed dialogue.