North Korea says nuclear status 'irreversible' after UN atomic agency rebuke

North Korean leader Kim Jong Un’s sister, ​Kim Yo Jong, accused the International Atomic Energy ‌Agency on Saturday (September 19, 2026) of double standards ​after it adopted a resolution ⁠criticising Pyongyang’s nuclear weapons programme.

The IAEA’s “biased viewpoint and double standards” are “the fundamental factor causing the collapse of ‌the international nuclear non-proliferation system”, Kim Yo Jong said in a statement ‌in state media KCNA.

She said the ‌agency ⁠had turned a blind eye ⁠to the “blatant nuclear proliferation activities” of the United States and South Korea’s “nuclear submarine introduction plan”, while forcibly adopting a ​resolution against North ‌Korea’s “self-defensive and legitimate nuclear activities”.

In a separate KCNA statement, North Korea’s Foreign Ministry also dismissed the resolution, declaring that its status ‌as a nuclear power is irreversible ​and backed by its nuclear deterrent.