North Korea dubs UN nuclear watchdog a 'dancing marionette of the West'

NorthKoreaon Wednesday dubbed the global atomic watchdog "a marionette dancing to the tune of the West" rejecting its information about the country's nuclear programme as “grossly distorted” and based on “guesswork and fabrication.”

North Korean Ambassador Kim Song delivered the rebuke at a UN General Assembly meeting where the International Atomic Energy Agency''s executive director, Rafael Grossi, called Pyongyang''s nuclear activities “deeply regrettable" and “a clear violation” of Security Council resolutions.

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The Vienna-based IAEA has not had access toNorthKoreasince the isolated Asian state expelled IAEA inspectors in 2009. Since then Pyongyang has pressed ahead with its nuclear weapons program, conducting its last nuclear test in September 2017.

The U.N. specialised agency has been monitoringNorthKoreafrom afar, including satellite imagery.

"The DPRK's nuclear activities remain a cause for serious concern. The continuation of the country's nuclear program is a clear violation of relevant Security Council resolutions and is deeply regrettable," IAEA Director-General Rafael Mariano Grossi told the 193-member U.N. General Assembly on Wednesday.

NorthKoreais formally known as the Democratic People's Republic ofKorea(DPRK).

NorthKorea's U.N. Ambassador Kim Song rejected an annual IAEA report submitted to the General Assembly

"The DPRK delegation categorically rejects the report of the IAEA containing grossly distorted contents with regard to the DPRK," said Kim.

"We left the IAEA long ago and have not forgotten its despicable acts of having sided with the hostile forces in their maneuvers to put pressure on us," Kim said. "The DPRK will never have any business to deal with the IAEA so long as it runs short of impartiality and objectivity ... and remains a marionette dancing to the tune of the hostile forces against the DPRK."

It is known that North Korea has facilities to produce both plutonium and highly enriched uranium, two key ingredients to manufacture bombs, at its main Yongbyon nuclear complex north of the capital, Pyongyang.

NorthKoreahas been subjected to U.N. Security Council sanctions since 2006 over its nuclear and ballistic missile programs. The 15-member council has steadily strengthened sanctions in a bid to cut off funding for those programs.

NorthKorean leader Kim Jong Un and USPresident Donald Trump have met three times since 2018, but failed to make progress on the UScalls for Pyongyang to give up its nuclear weapons andNorthKorea's demands for an end to sanctions.