IAEA members raise 'concern' over North Korea nuclear expansion

The UN nuclear watchdog's members on Thursday expressed "growing concern" about increased atomic activity in North Korea, including a recently reported "long-term plan to strengthen the national nuclear force".

In a resolution passed at the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) annual conference, members noted an "increased level of activity at some of the DPRK's nuclear facilities and further development of the DPRK's nuclear programme", referring to the Democratic People's Republic of Korea, the country's official name.

Some 103 countries backed the motion, that was proposed by 61 members, with just six opposing it, including Russia and China. There were 14 abstentions.

The resolution said North Korea's nuclear activities "continue to be a cause of serious concern" and called on the government to "halt all such activities".

The IAEA's annual conference has repeatedly passed resolutions raising fears over the North's nuclear weapons programme.

Kim Yo Jong, the powerful sister of North Korea's leader, said Thursday that the country's nuclear-armed status was "absolute", calling those hoping for its denuclearisation "idiots".

In a statement carried by the official Korean Central News Agency, she said the "familiar silly talk" of efforts to denuclearise the North was expected at the IAEA conference.

North Korea, under rafts of UN sanctions for its development of banned weapons, is believed to operate uranium enrichment facilities at sites at Yongbyon, Kangson and Kusong.

It cut off access to IAEA inspectors in 2009. Since then the agency has had to rely on satellite imagery and open sources to monitor the country's nuclear programme.

In a report ahead of the conference, the agency's head Rafael Grossi said it had identified an additional uranium enrichment facility at Yongbyon, which Pyongyang purportedly decommissioned after talks but later reactivated in 2021.

The report also said an annex built at the Kangson enrichment site appears to have entered operation in January, noting a "further expansion" in the country's ability to produce weapons-grade nuclear material.

It also references a "long-term plan" to strengthen the "national nuclear force" announced by Kim Jong Un in February, as well as a June visit by Kim to a "newly inaugurated nuclear materials production factory".