▲ Kim Yo-jong, Vice Department Director of North Korea's Workers' Party
Kim Yo-jong, vice department director of North Korea's Workers' Party, lashed out at the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) after its General Conference adopted a resolution stating that North Korea's status as a nuclear weapons state cannot be recognized.
Kim emphasized that North Korea had already withdrawn from the IAEA in 1994, stating that the IAEA resolution "has no impact whatsoever on the Democratic People's Republic of Korea's status as a nuclear weapons state."
Kim also expressed wariness, arguing that the IAEA has failed to rein in discussions regarding South Korea's introduction of nuclear-powered submarines and Japan securing nuclear potential, accusing the IAEA of applying double standards.
She stated that the IAEA "remains utterly silent without uttering a single proper word about the United States' blatant nuclear proliferation acts and non-nuclear state South Korea's concerning plan to introduce nuclear submarines," defining this as "yet another representative example that exposes the agency's extreme duplicity and bias without filter."
After also mentioning the U.S. nuclear sharing with NATO, she claimed that the IAEA "is also turning a blind eye to Japan's actions of abnormally over-accumulating weapons-grade nuclear materials under the protection of the United States."
She further emphasized that the "international nuclear order is reaching a state of total collapse," adding that "ensuring that the credibility of our nuclear capability is never questioned under any circumstances is the most vital matter for national security."
North Korea also issued a statement under the name of its Foreign Ministry spokesperson, pushing back against the NPT resolution.
The Foreign Ministry spokesperson claimed, "The status of a nuclear weapons state does not require recognition by the United States, the West, or the International Atomic Energy Agency, but is guaranteed by practical nuclear deterrence and has been irreversibly and permanently fixed according to the supreme law of the state."
On September 17 local time, at the 7th plenary meeting of the 70th General Conference held in Vienna, Austria, the IAEA adopted a resolution reaffirming that North Korea cannot have the status of a nuclear weapons state.
The resolution was adopted with 103 countries in favor, 6 against, and 14 abstentions.
Russia and China were understood to have voted against the resolution.
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