North Korea pours scorn on Washington’s ‘paid trumpeter’ – the UN nuclear agency

A spokesman for Pyongyang’s nuclear industry said an IAEA resolution calling for the North to curb its nuclear programmes was a ‘conspiracy’ by the US

The IAEA, the UN’s atomic watchdog, has had no access to North Korea since Pyongyang expelled its inspectors in 2009 and restarted nuclear testing

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The flag of the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA). North Korea on Monday denounced the IAEA for joining a US-led pressure campaign over its nuclear programmes. Photo: AP

Published: 7:29am, 2 Oct 2023Updated: 10:54am, 2 Oct 2023

North Korea on Monday denounced the UN atomic watchdog for joining a US-led pressure campaign and “cooking up” a resolution over its nuclear programmes, calling the agency a “paid trumpeter” for Washington.

An unnamed spokesman of Pyongyang’s Ministry of Nuclear Power Industry released a statement criticising a resolution adopted on Friday at the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) general conference that calls for the North to curb its nuclear programmes.

The spokesman described the resolution as a “result of conspiracy” by the United States and its allies, saying North Korea’s status as a nuclear weapons state has already become “irreversible.”

“Such farce of the hostile forces is a revelation of their sinister intention to cover up their criminal acts of seriously threatening the international nuclear non-proliferation system and justify their hostile policy toward the DPRK,” he said, according to state media KCNA.

DPRK refers to the North’s official name, the Democratic People’s Republic of Korea.