President Yoon Suk Yeol, who is on a tour of three Central Asian nations, denounced North Korea's nuclear development as “dangerous and irresponsible,” adding that it shakes the foundation of the global nonproliferation regime, which has been firmly defended by numerous countries.

In a written interview with state-run Kazakh dailies on Tuesday, Yoon said the North is seriously threatening international peace and security by continuing to develop nuclear arms and the means of delivery, despite the UN Security Council's(UNSC) repeated and united calls for the regime to cease.

Yoon then described Kazakhstan as a model global example of denuclearization as it shut down a Cold War-era nuclear testing facility and voluntarily scrapped a large quantity of the nuclear arms it had received from the former Soviet Union after it gained independence.

He added that South Korea is also actively participating in the international community's efforts toward denuclearization and nonproliferation.

Ahead of Wednesday's summit with Kazakh President Kassym-Jomart Tokayev, Yoon said he planned to discuss ways to expand the two sides' mutually reciprocal cooperation to include key minerals, science and technology, environment, agriculture and tackling climate change.