North Korea repeatedly reaffirmed its status as a nuclear weapons state in a series of statements over the weekend, denouncing recent calls for its denuclearization and U.S.-ROK defense ties.

The DPRK’s Foreign Ministry released two statements on Saturday, one criticizing an ROK-EU joint statement adopted last week and the other on the latest Nuclear Consultative Meeting (NCG) between Seoul and Washington.

The chief of the ministry’s External Policy Office also told the Korean Central News Agency (KCNA) the same day that the U.S. and South Korea are “accelerating arms buildup” and threatening regional security.

The three statements came on the