by WorldTribune Staff, June 18, 2026 Non-AI Real World News
Often when North Korean dictator Kim Jong-Un wants to convey a fiery response to an international confab critical of his regime, he deploys his kid sister, Kim Yo-Jong, to deliver the tongue-lashing.
The G7 on Wednesday issued a statement which included a reiteration of its preference of a North Korea without nukes:
Kim Yo-Jong / KCTV
“We express deep concern about North Korea’s nuclear and ballistic missile programs and reaffirm our commitment to the complete denuclearization of North Korea in accordance with UN Security Council resolutions. We urge North Korea to resolve the abductions issue immediately. We reiterate the need to jointly address North Korea’s cryptocurrency thefts and cybercrimes.”
In response, North Korea propaganda outlet KCNA quoted Kim Yo-Jong as saying:
“Possession of nuclear weapons is our core interest that must be upheld, and ‘denuclearization’ is an unwavering line that can never be crossed. For anyone, touching the core interests of a nuclear-armed state would be the worst disastrous choice.”
Writing for The New York Sun, Donald Kirk noted: “The stark reminder that North Korea is far more likely than Iran ever was to fire or drop a nuclear warhead slipped off the tongue of the outspoken younger sister of North Korea’s leader, Kim Jong-Un, presumably with big brother’s full blessing.”
KCNA identified Yo-Jong as leader of the central committee of the North’s Worker’s Party of which Kim Jong-Un is general secretary.
“She previously had been head of the party’s general affairs department after serving as vice director of the ‘propaganda and agitation department,’ from which she issued vituperative statements on her brother’s behalf for years,” Kirk noted.
Yo-Jong said to the signatories of the G7 statement, which includes U.S. President Donald Trump, that: “Nuclear weapons are a powerful means of defending sovereignty granted by the laws of the Republic and the cornerstone of peace guarantees. Our core, as a self-defensive and responsive means, will remain permanently unchanged in both identity and existence.”
Though it has not tested a warhead since 2017, North Korea is reportedly expanding its nuclear program, having manufactured at least 50 and possibly 90 or so nuclear warheads, according to intelligence estimates.
International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) Director Rafael Grossi said North Korea has been observed “reprocessing of a core load of irradiated fuel from the reactor’s sixth operating cycle.” He described “the ongoing operation of enrichment facilities” as “of serious concern.”
Beyond Parallel cited an IAEA report on satellite imagery showing “the completion of a building at Yongbyon that is widely believed to be a new uranium enrichment plant for producing weapons-grade material for nuclear weapons.”
“Any production of enriched uranium would significantly increase the number of nuclear weapons available,” according to Beyond Parallel, a project of the Center for Strategic and International Studies in Washington.
Before most of its nuclear infrastructure was leveled by American warplanes, Iran had been working in tandem with North Korea on both its nuclear and missile programs.
“The international community started to raise concerns that it might become the ‘next North Korea,’ ” said a report by the European Institute for International Relations issued last year.
The report estimated that Iran had “enough fissile material to fuel at least five nuclear weapons.” North Korea, it said, “presents a different challenge, as it has already developed and tested nuclear weapons” while “continuing to expand both its missile technology and nuclear arsenal.”
