DPRK defies US, says nuclear state status 'permanently enshrined'
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The DPRK calls its nuclear weapons status "irreversible" and condemns US denuclearization efforts, rejecting IAEA authority over its nuclear policy.
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DPRK leader Kim Jong Un inspects a new weapons factory in an undisclosed location, Democratic People's Republic of Korea, August 31, 2025 (AP)
The Democratic People's Republic of Korea (DPRK) has declared its status as a nuclear-armed state to be both "permanently enshrined" in its law and "irreversible", condemning the United States for its demands for denuclearization, according to a state media report on Monday.
"Recently, at a meeting of the International Atomic Energy Agency's Board of Governors, the US once again committed a grave political provocation by branding our possession of nuclear weapons as illegal and clamouring about denuclearisation," the DPRK's UN mission said in a statement carried by the official Korean Central News Agency (KCNA).
A statement from the Democratic People's Republic of Korea (DPRK) declared that its status "as a nuclear-armed state, enshrined permanently in the nation's supreme and fundamental law, has become irreversible." It noted that the country has not had "official relations" with the nuclear watchdog for more than 30 years.
The DPRK statement emphasized that the IAEA possesses neither the legal mandate nor the ethical grounds to meddle in the internal affairs of a sovereign nuclear state that is not a party to the Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty.
The statement added that Pyongyang would firmly oppose and reject any attempt to alter the current status of the Democratic People's Republic of Korea, acting as a responsible nuclear-armed state.
Since a failed denuclearization summit with the United States in 2019, the DPRK has consistently stated that it will never relinquish its nuclear weapons.
This announcement comes amid heightened tensions between the Korean Republic and its neighbors, especially after South Korea and Japan held military drills with the United States.
DPRK firm on nuclear expansion in response to US-South Korea drills
According to a Tuesday report from state media KCNA, the leader of the Democratic People's Republic of Korea, Kim Jong Un, has declared that the country must rapidly expand its nuclear armament while calling the ongoing joint US-South Korea military exercises an obvious expression of their will to provoke a war.
These remarks came in response to the launch of the annual Ulchi Freedom Shield exercises by South Korea and the United States, which are aimed at strengthening defense capabilities in response to perceived threats from the Democratic People's Republic of Korea (DPRK).
Kim emphasized that the inclusion of a nuclear element in the joint drills reflects a direct threat to the DPRK’s security, arguing that this justifies the need for accelerated nuclear development to counter hostile policies by the US and its allies.
An analyst at South Korea's Korea Institute for National Unification, Hong Min, stated that through this move, the DPRK is demonstrating its refusal to accept denuclearization and its intention to irreversibly upgrade its nuclear weapons.
