Kim Yo Jong, Kim Jong Un’s sister, rejects calls for North Korea’s denuclearization and defends its nuclear arsenal

Kim Yo Jong, the sister of North Korean leader Kim Jong Un, called those demanding that North Korea give up its nuclear weapons “idiots,” reaffirming on Thursday that the country’s nuclear status is permanent and irreversible.

The statement was made in the context of the International Atomic Energy Agency’s annual General Conference, held in Vienna, where Pyongyang expects renewed calls for its denuclearization. Kim Yo Jong dismissed these demands as “the usual nonsense” and argued that only people who do not understand “the laws of the world” could consider denuclearization possible.

In a statement carried by the official KCNA news agency, she said North Korea’s status as a nuclear-armed state is “absolute” and cannot be questioned. According to her, the arsenal helps deter adversaries and guarantee the security of the regime.

North Korea enshrined its status as a nuclear power in its Constitution in 2023. The country conducted its first atomic test in 2006 and subsequently expanded its ballistic missile program. Pyongyang considers nuclear weapons essential to the regime’s survival. Negotiations with the United States have been stalled since 2019, following the failure of the second summit between Kim Jong Un and Donald Trump.