North Korea slams nuclear watchdog as ‘paid trumpeter’ for US

By Riyaz ul Khaliq

ISTANBUL (AA) - North Korea on Monday criticized the UN nuclear watchdog, calling it a "paid trumpeter" for the US.

Accusing International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) chief Rafael Grossi of “taking lead in creating the atmosphere of pressurizing” Pyongyang, North Korea’s Ministry of Nuclear Power Industry said he was “spreading a false story about imminent 7th nuclear test” by North Korea.

Pyongyang was responding to a resolution adopted on Sept. 29 at the IAEA general conference that calls on North Korea to curb its nuclear programs.

“If the IAEA wants to avoid international criticism as a paid trumpeter of the US, it would be well advised to devote itself to tackling the difficulties facing the international community such as the US nuclear proliferation through ‘AUKUS’, Japan's discharge of nuclear-polluted water and the US expansion of nuclear test ground,” a ministry statement said.

AUKUS is a trilateral pact among the US, the UK and Australia under which Canberra will get nuclear-power submarines.

Japan’s release of treated wastewater from the crippled Fukushima nuclear power plant has also invited criticism, mainly from China.

“We vehemently denounce and reject the abnormal behavior of the IAEA which has been completely reduced to a reptile organization that serves the US away from its elementary mission as an international organization to maintain impartiality,” the statement added.

It said Pyongyang had withdrawn from the IAEA in the early 1990s, thus the nuclear watchdog has “neither qualifications nor justification to say this or that” over North Korea’s “exercise of sovereignty.”

“The position of the DPRK as a nuclear weapons state has become irreversible, and this is a stark reality that can never change no matter how desperately anyone may deny,” it said, using the initials of North Korea’s official name.

“We clarify once again our principled stand to the director-general (of IAEA) who behaves like a US State Department official, forgetful of his duty as director of an international organization.

“As long as tyrannical nuclear weapons of the US and imperialist aggression forces exist on this land, the DPRK's position as a nuclear weapons state will remain unchanged and the DPRK will never tolerate the hostile forces' acts of infringing upon its sovereignty,” the statement said.