North Korea has declared that its position as a nuclear-armed state is now “permanently enshrined” in law and cannot be reversed, while sharply criticizing the United States for insisting on its denuclearisation.
In a statement released through its mission to the United Nations and published by state media on Monday, Pyongyang accused Washington of making a “grave political provocation” at a recent meeting of the International Atomic Energy Agency’s Board of Governors by calling its nuclear programme illegal.
According to the statement, North Korea’s nuclear-armed status has been written into the country’s “supreme and fundamental law,” making it non-negotiable. It also noted that Pyongyang has not maintained any “official relations” with the IAEA for more than three decades.
The mission argued that the agency “lacks both the legal authority and moral justification to interfere in the internal affairs of a nuclear-armed state existing outside the Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty.” North Korea pulled out of the IAEA in 1994 after disputes over nuclear inspections, accusing the body of being manipulated by Washington to undermine its sovereignty.
The government reiterated that it would “resolutely oppose any attempt to alter its current status” and insisted that, as a “responsible nuclear state,” it would continue to safeguard its position.
The declaration came shortly after leader Kim Jong Un’s visit to weapons research facilities, where he stressed Pyongyang’s strategy of advancing both nuclear capabilities and conventional armed forces.
Since the collapse of denuclearisation talks with the United States in 2019, North Korea has repeatedly vowed that it will never abandon its nuclear arsenal.
