North Korea’s top diplomat has denounced a G7 foreign minister’s statement reaffirming the goal of complete denuclearization, describing it as “vicious criticism against Pyongyang’s constitutional rights.’

In a statement carried by the Korean Central News Agency (KCNA) on Thursday, Foreign Minister Choe Son Hui said the country’s determination to maintain its nuclear arsenal would not be shaken by external pressure.

“The Korean peninsula issue, especially the position of the DPRK as a nuclear weapons state, can never be a subject of Western countries’ debate,” she said. 

Choe accused the U.S. and the U.K. of posing a greater nuclear threat