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North Korea has strongly rejected the International Atomic Energy Agency’s (IAEA) latest calls for the dismantling and denuclearization of the country’s nuclear program, declaring that its status as a nuclear state is “absolute and irreversible.”
Operative Information Center-OMM reports that the statement was made by Kim Yo-jong, the sister of North Korean leader Kim Jong Un and a department director of the ruling Workers’ Party of Korea, according to the Korean Central News Agency (KCNA).
According to the report, Kim Yo-jong described Western countries’ demands that Pyongyang abandon its nuclear arsenal as “empty noise” ahead of the IAEA General Conference. She stressed that regular meetings and pressure from international organizations could not affect North Korea’s resolve to defend its state sovereignty and supreme interests. The report said Pyongyang’s nuclear status was being permanently strengthened both legally and physically, adding that this reality would never change.
South Korea’s Unification Ministry, commenting on the statement, said Kim Yo-jong’s remarks appeared to be an attempt by Pyongyang to signal to Washington in advance that it would not bring nuclear disarmament to the negotiating table in any potential future talks.
The IAEA General Conference is the agency’s main annual policy-making forum, where member states discuss nuclear safety, safeguards and nonproliferation issues. North Korea’s nuclear program and its compliance with international nonproliferation obligations have remained a major concern for the agency and regional powers.
