Korea's Kim Jong-un stated that the country's authorities will never renounce its status as a nuclear power.

Question

The leader of the Democratic People's Republic of #Korea, Kim Jong-un, stated that the country's authorities will never renounce its status as a nuclear power. Subscribe to International Reporters in English

Answer 1

My findings are that this is true as the claim being fact checked was said by Kim Jong-un himself in North Korea’s Supreme People’s Assembly from this past Tuesday. I was not able to locate a Primary source as North Korea is extremely strict regarding media coverage or any sort of publicity. The secondary source I used (Link at the bottom) was a CNN post on MSN titled 'Kim Jong Un uses Iran war to justify North Korea’s decision to keep its nuclear weapons'. The claim of the article is in the title, although it is rather misleading as Jong-un does not directly mention the conflict with Iran as the causation. I belive the only bias my source has when it comes to this topic is wanting to gain more attention and interations with its misleading title. The evidence that supports this claim is that he said it during North Korea’s Supreme People’s Assembly, although he does not directly name drop Iran which could undermine their claim context cues lead us to that conclusion. One hundered percent will not be attempting to contact North Korea or Kim Jong-un for obvious reasons.

https://www.msn.com/en-us/news/world/kim-jong-un-uses-iran-war-to-justify-north-korea-s-decision-to-keep-its-nuclear-weapons/ar-AA1Zm066?ocid=BingNewsVerp 

North Korea’s Supreme Peddjople’s Assembly published on Tues

Answer 2

According to the articles I have read, the claim that Kim Jong-un stated that the country's authorities will never renounce its status a nuclear power seems to be true. In one of the sources that I found regarding this claim, it was said that Kim Jong-un pledged to "irreversibly cement" North Korea's status as a nuclear power while maintaining assertiveness against their enemy, South Korea. While the title of this article is worded slightly different from the claim that is being fact checked, it still remains to be true. Essentially, it was also noted that Kim Jong-un, North Korea's leader, delivered a speech during the Supreme People's Assembly at Parliament in Pyongyang. Additionally, in this speech, North Korean President Kim Jong-un mentions that he has pride in his country's quick expansion of nuclear weapons and missiles. 

In the link below, I gained more information about the situation where Kim Jong-un actually pledged to keep North Korea's status as a nuclear power. It provided me with information about what Kim Jong-un thinks about his country's status as a nuclear power, and more data on what he thinks of his enemies and allies.  

https://www.npr.org/2026/03/24/g-s1-114945/kim-vows-to-irreversibly-cement-north-koreas-nuclear-status

In the article below, I learned that in early 2025, Kim Jong-un's aggressive motives were noted by United States President, Donald Trump, as he began calling North Korea a "nuclear state." The source below talks more about North Korea's status and the Supreme People's Assembly that occurred in Pyongyang. 

https://www.csis.org/analysis/not-time-arms-control-north-korea

The bias that my second source (CSIS) may have is that it is called 'Center For Strategic & International Studies' most likely because the publications mention opinionated statements from the author. This includes the article that I listed from the public source, CSIS, which regards Kim Jong-un's actions and plans for North Korea moving forward.

The evidence that supports this claim is that in one of the articles, it gives a direct quote from Kim Jong-un that follows up on the claim's title. In the article, Kim said, "The government of our republic will continue to consolidate our absolutely irreversible status as a nuclear power and will aggressively wage a struggle against hostile forces to crush their (anti-North Korean) provocations and schemes." The sources that I referenced support the claim by stating that Kim Jong-un pledged his country's status as a nuclear power in the Supreme People's Assembly at parliament in Pyongyang.