North Korea Rejects Formal IAEA Resolution, Kim Yo-jong Accuses Watchdog of 'Double Standards'

North Korea's Foreign Ministry issued a statement via KCNA on September 19, 2026 rejecting a resolution the IAEA's 70th General Conference formally adopted in Vienna on September 18, which reaffirmed that the DPRK cannot hold nuclear-weapons-state status under the Non-Proliferation Treaty and called on Pyongyang to immediately halt related activities. A ministry spokesperson said the 'resolution' — which the statement described as 'cooked up' by the US and the West — 'has no effect on the DPRK's position as a nuclear weapons state,' and that this status 'does not need the recognition' of Western entities or the IAEA. In a separate statement the same day, Kim Yo-jong called the measure an 'anti-DPRK resolution' that unfairly targets the country's 'self-defensive and legitimate nuclear activities' while ignoring US nuclear deployments in the region, and said the IAEA's 'biased viewpoint and double standards' are 'the fundamental factor causing the collapse of the international nuclear non-proliferation system.' This followed her September 17 statement responding to denuclearization appeals raised earlier in the same IAEA conference; the September 19 statements respond specifically to the conference's formal resolution once adopted.