Afghanistan, Sept. 19 -- North Korea declared its status as a nuclear weapons state "irreversible" on Saturday after the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) adopted a resolution criticizing Pyongyang's nuclear weapons program, accusing the U.N. nuclear watchdog of applying double standards.
The IAEA resolution, adopted during the agency's General Conference in Vienna, reaffirmed that North Korea cannot be recognized as a nuclear weapons state under the Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty (NPT) and urged Pyongyang to abandon its nuclear weapons and ballistic missile programs.
Kim Yo Jong, the influential sister of North Korean leader Kim Jong Un, dismissed the resolution in a statement carried by the state-run Korean Central News Agency...