Kim Jong-un's sister: IAEA has no right to interfere in North Korea's nuclear policy

Pyongyang rejects the resolutions of the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) concerning the DPRK’s nuclear program. This was announced on September 19 by Kim Yo-jong, head of the department of the Central Committee of the Workers’ Party of Korea and the sister of the leader of the state, quoted by the Central Telegraph Agency of Korea (KCNA).

Kim Yo-jong stressed that on September 17, at the 70th session of the IAEA General Conference, a resolution was adopted calling into question the legality of the DPRK’s nuclear activities. She called the document “senseless and ineffective.” Such resolutions are prepared annually at the initiative of the United States and Western countries, but they do not affect the status of the republic as a nuclear state.

According to Kim, Pyongyang terminated its membership in the IAEA and withdrew from the Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty (NPT) many years ago. Therefore, in her opinion, the Agency has no right to control the nuclear program of the country.

Kim Yo-jung also accused the IAEA of double standards and bias. She pointed out that the agency ignored the presence of American nuclear weapons in Europe, the participation of South Korea and Japan in American “extended deterrence” systems, as well as Seoul’s plans to build a nuclear submarine. According to her, the IAEA has become the “American Atomic Energy Agency”.

The International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) announced on September 10 that North Korea is continuing to expand its nuclear program, including the construction of new uranium enrichment facilities identified by satellite imagery, since inspectors have not been working in the country since 2009. This includes the identification of an additional object and signs of activity at sites in Yongbyon and Kanson.