North Korea Condemns IAEA Meeting Regarding Denuclearisation

North Korea has condemned the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) general meeting discussing the country’s denuclearisation, stating that its position as a nuclear-armed state is “absolute,” according to state media reports on Thursday.

Kim Yo Jong, the influential sister of North Korean leader Kim Jong Un, described the calls for denuclearisation during the 70th regular session of the IAEA General Conference in Vienna, Austria, as “foolish babble that has been heard before,” according to the Korean Central News Agency (KCNA).

“The position of the DPRK as a nuclear-armed state is absolute and cannot be changed by anything,” she said, referring to the Democratic People’s Republic of Korea (DPRK), North Korea’s official name.

The general meeting expressed concern over North Korea’s continuously developing nuclear capacity and urged Pyongyang to abandon its nuclear weapons programme “completely, verifiably, and irreversibly,” in accordance with the Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty (NPT).

The North Korean leader’s sister dismissed these calls as “mere noise, not surprising, and nothing new.”

“No matter how persistently the IAEA and the West hold periodic meetings and discuss denuclearisation based on pre-set scenarios, it will have no impact on the determination and ability of the DPRK to take all necessary steps to defend the highest interests of the state,” she said.

“The fact that the DPRK’s nuclear position has been permanently established, both physically and legally, cannot change in the slightest,” she stated.

“No one or anything can reverse the crucial change in the strength and position of the DPRK, nor prevent it in the future,” she added.