Kim Yo-jong Rejects IAEA Denuclearization Calls, Warns of 'More Offensive' Response to US-Led Drills

Kim Yo-jong, director of the WPK Central Committee's General Affairs Department, issued a KCNA press statement on September 17, 2026 declaring that North Korea's status as a nuclear weapons state 'is absolute, which cannot be reversed by anything.' The statement responded to denuclearization appeals raised at the IAEA's 70th General Conference, where the agency's annual report said DPRK is expanding uranium enrichment capacity and operating reactors; Kim dismissed the criticism as 'familiar silly talk' and 'noises.' In the same statement she blamed US-led military drills — pointing to the Pacific Vanguard 2026 naval exercise near Guam (a US Navy-led exercise with South Korea, Australia, Canada, New Zealand and Japan, Aug 29–Sep 10) — for 'ever-worsening' tensions on the peninsula, saying the situation required North Korea to take responsive measures 'proportional or more offensive in its nature' and that its armed forces would 'mobilize all means available' if security or national interests were violated. Notably, the statement was carried by KCNA but not published in Rodong Sinmun, the paper accessible to ordinary North Korean citizens.