Press Statement of Kim Yo Jong, Department Director of C.C., WPK

Pyongyang, September 19 (KCNA) -- Kim Yo Jong, department director of the Central Committee of the Workers' Party of Korea, issued the following press statement "The prejudiced viewpoint and double standards of the IAEA are the main factor that incurred the collapse of the international nuclear non-proliferation system" on Sept. 19:

With the 70th Session of the IAEA General Conference held in Vienna of Austria as an occasion, the IAEA's chronic prejudice and double-standard behavior was revealed again.

On September 17, the IAEA forcibly adopted an anti-DPRK "resolution" to call into question our state's self-defensive and legitimate nuclear activities, disregarding the grave situation in which the DPRK's security environment is exposed to constant nuclear threat of outside forces.

Such meaningless and inefficient "resolution", which the IAEA is cooking up every year at the instigation of the U.S. and the West, is not something new for us and has no effect on the DPRK's position as a nuclear weapons state.

The nuclear activities of the DPRK, a nuclear weapons state outside the NPT which withdrew from the IAEA through legal routes decades ago, are not object of jurisdiction of the IAEA and, the agency has no authority or qualifications to interfere in them.

Therefore, we never recognize any anti-DPRK "resolution" cooked up in the arena of the IAEA.

On the other hand, the IAEA has consistently kept silence, failing to say a right word about the undisguised nuclear proliferation act of the U.S., a depository of the NPT, and the grave plan for the introduction of nuclear submarine by the ROK, a non-nuclear state.

This is another typical example clearly showing the extreme two-faced nature and prejudice of the agency.

As a result, the IAEA vividly revealed its true nature as a Western power organization, unfortunately and completely being deprived of its representative character and impartiality as a UN specialized organization and representing only the interests of the U.S. and its allies.

The double standard of the IAEA is not confined to the Korean peninsula but is being witnessed in Europe, Oceania, the Middle East and other parts of the world.

The fact that the U.S. deployed nuclear weapons in Europe and shared them with NATO member states, while wantonly violating the non-proliferation obligation of NPT stipulating that nuclear weapons and their management should not be handed over directly and indirectly to anyone, the fact that it actively dragged the ROK and Japan in its plan for nuclear weapons use and its implementation under the pretext of "offer of extended deterrence" and the fact that it is planning to provide nuclear submarine technology for the ROK - all those facts do not become the subject of discussion and concern of the agency in any case.

Moreover, the agency is disregarding Japan's unusual excess accumulation of weapons-grade nuclear materials under the patronage of the U.S. despite the protest of the international community.

The two-faced nature of the agency has led to the creation of a new "nuclear non-proliferation standard" whereby the nuclear activities of a relevant country are regulated as "legitimate" or "illegal" according to whether the nuclear issue is of the West or not. This is the present reality of the nuclear non-proliferation system led by the U.S. and the West.

In fact, the IAEA has certainly been reduced to the U.S. atomic energy organization, and it is no exaggeration to say that the international nuclear non-proliferation system has degenerated into the U.S.-led nuclear proliferation system.

The injustice, prejudice and double standards of the IAEA are the main factors eroding the nuclear non-proliferation system on a global scale, and the U.S. open nuclear proliferation behavior being committed in parallel with this is a serious threat disturbing international peace and security and increasing the danger of outbreak of a nuclear war.

The main mission of the IAEA is to provide all member states with the right to peaceful use of nuclear power and to block the military use of nuclear technology, and it is by no means to connive at and foster undisguised nuclear proliferation.

In my personal view, the IAEA might save its disgraced face even a bit if it takes courage to say a single right word about who is the chieftain of undermining the nuclear non-proliferation system.

The further the IAEA interferes in the sovereignty and internal affairs of the DPRK, a non-member state, the worse its reputation and fame will be damaged, and it should judge by itself who will benefit from it.

Conniving at the nuclear threat and proliferation of the U.S. and other hostile forces and asking the DPRK to abandon its nuclear weapons are just like telling us to give up our existence and right to live.

We will not in any case mortgage our sovereignty and security rights to the "tolerance" of the U.S. and the West.

The present grave geopolitical situation, in which the international nuclear order is at the brink of complete collapse due to the radical nuclear arms buildup and undisguised nuclear proliferation of the U.S. and to the double-dealing behavior and lack of principle of the IAEA, requires the DPRK to make a more responsible option.

It is the most important matter for the national security to ensure that the credibility of the nuclear force is not questioned in any case for the DPRK which is constantly exposed to the nuclear threat of the hostile forces. -0-