Kim Yo Jong, the powerful sister of North Korean leader Kim Jong Un, rejected in a statement released on Thursday international calls for the denuclearization of the country. According to her, North Korea’s position as a nuclear-armed state “is absolute and cannot be reversed.”
The statements were a response to criticisms raised at the 70th General Conference of the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) in Vienna, that North Korea was violating United Nations Security Council resolutions.
The agency has not inspected North Korea’s nuclear facilities since 2009.
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According to the state news agency KCNA, Kim said that those who seek to change North Korea’s current status should understand “how miserable it is and how useless it is,” adding that they “would only hear the words of fools who ignore the law of the world” if they believed such efforts were possible.
“No matter how desperately the IAEA and the West may hold periodic meetings and discuss denuclearization according to a fixed scenario, they cannot have any effect on the will and the ability of the DPRK to take all necessary measures to defend the supreme interests of the State,” he said.
The statement also comes after a Russian representative at the IAEA criticized the agency last week for reporting on North Korea’s nuclear program, arguing that it could not draw reliable conclusions without direct access to the country.
