Kim Yo-jong, a department director of North Korea's ruling Workers' Party, has issued a statement slamming recent discussions at the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) General Conference that called for North Korea's denuclearization, dismissing them as "familiar silly talk" and "mere noise."

In a statement carried by the Korean Central News Agency (KCNA) on Thursday, Kim used the comparison, saying, "Those gathered to babble in an attempt to alter our state's current status must clearly understand what a pathetic delusion and futile waste of effort it is."

She continued, "If they genuinely believe that is possible, they will only be branded as fools ignorant of how the world works," emphasizing that "the status of a nuclear weapons state is absolute and can never be reversed by anything."

Kim also added, "The reality that the DPRK's nuclear status has been permanently fixed, both physically and legally, cannot be altered in the slightest."

North Korea has protested and reacted almost every year to the IAEA General Conference's discussions and resolutions calling for denuclearization.

While statements were issued by its permanent mission in Vienna last year and by a spokesperson for the Ministry of Atomic Energy Industry in 2023, attention has been drawn this year to the elevation in stature, with Kim Yo-jong personally stepping forward to reaffirm the irreversibility of the North's nuclear state status.

A South Korean Unification Ministry official stated, "We are paying close attention to the fact that this reaction comes at a time when President Trump has recently shown an inclination toward pursuing North Korea-U.S. dialogue."

Analysts suggest that Pyongyang may have brought out Kim to more firmly establish its stance that denuclearization is off the table, with potential North Korea-U.S. talks in mind.

On Wednesday night, North Korea also issued a statement via a spokesperson for its Ministry of National Defense protesting the discussion held between South Korea and the United States at the Countering Weapons of Mass Destruction Committee (CWMDC) on September 10, threatening that it could be regarded as a "grave security challenge demanding the invocation of the law on the state nuclear forces policy."

The defense ministry spokesperson lashed out, stating that the discussion "clamored for strengthening a combined defense posture predicated on the use of military force against the DPRK under the pretext of 'threats of weapons of mass destruction,'" adding that it "cannot be overlooked."

The spokesperson continued, "This is an overt declaration of confrontation aimed at taking as a given the use of nuclear and biochemical weapons against our state in case of a contingency on the Korean Peninsula and accelerating operational preparations for its execution, as well as a grave move to escalate tensions that maximizes the risk of weapons of mass destruction being used in the region."

The spokesperson further warned, "Such attacks and threats of using weapons of mass destruction by the enemies targeting our state can be regarded as a grave security challenge demanding the invocation of relevant provisions of the law on the state nuclear forces policy," advising them to "properly interpret what the invocation of these provisions signifies and take it as a stern warning."

Although the CWMDC has convened since 2017, this marks the first time North Korea has issued a reaction to it, making it somewhat unusual for a defense ministry spokesperson to personally address a director-general-level consultative body.

The Unification Ministry official assessed, "It appears to be an attempt to pressure the United States into shifting its policy, such as by withdrawing its hostile policy toward North Korea, as an extension of criticism at varying levels against the ongoing bilateral and trilateral military cooperation involving South Korea, the U.S., and Japan."

Analysts also note that this series of messages issued across Wednesday and Thursday—including the defense ministry spokesperson's remarks and Kim Yo-jong's statement—may serve to pressure Washington to change its stance by raising conditions or agenda items for talks, without directly responding to prospective North Korea-U.S. dialogue.
 
(Photo: Yonhap News)