Kim Yo Jong, sister of North Korean leader Kim Jong Un, rejected international calls for nuclear disarmament on Thursday, affirming that her country’s status as a state possessing nuclear weapons is final and cannot be reversed. Kim said that regular meetings and calls from the International Atomic Energy Agency and Western countries would not affect North Korea’s resolve or its ability to take what she described as all necessary measures to defend the state’s supreme interests.
Pyongyang rejects calls for nuclear disarmament
She added that «North Korea’s status as a state possessing nuclear weapons is absolute and cannot be reversed by anything», stressing that what she described as fundamental changes in her country’s power and standing could not be stopped or prevented from continuing in the future.
Kim’s comments came as the 70th regular session of the International Atomic Energy Agency’s General Conference was being held in Vienna. The conference expressed concern over North Korea’s growing nuclear capabilities and called on Pyongyang to fully, verifiably and irreversibly abandon its nuclear weapons program, in line with the Treaty on the Non-Proliferation of Nuclear Weapons.
Ahead of the session, the agency issued its director general’s report on safeguards in North Korea. The report pointed to a significant increase in Pyongyang’s uranium-enrichment capacity, along with an expansion of its key nuclear facilities. North Korea continues to develop its nuclear arsenal amid repeated international pressure to abandon the program.
