Leader's sister says only 'idiots' think N. Korea to give up nukes

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

North Korea has legally enshrined its status as a nuclear weapons state, with its leadership declaring the country's atomic arsenal permanent and irreversible.

US President Donald Trump said in August that Pyongyang possesses 57 "very powerful" nuclear weapons, with Seoul putting the figure at between 80 and 120.

Seoul said it was paying close attention to Thursday's remarks because they come as Trump has floated the idea of a new meeting with Kim.

"The DPRK's position as a nuclear weapons state is absolute which can not reverse with anything," Kim's sister, Kim Yo Jong, said in a statement carried by the official Korean Central News Agency.

Pyongyang's nuclear arsenal "makes a significant contribution to deterring the outrageous acts of international rogues", she said.

Kim's statement came during the General Conference of the International Atomic Energy Agency in Vienna, where she said the "familiar silly talk" of efforts to denuclearise the North was expected.

"If they believe that it is really possible, they will only hear the word of idiots," she said.

"No matter how rhetorically the hostile forces may deny, the reality in which the nuclear position of the DPRK has been permanently settled physically and legally cannot change even a bit," she added, using the acronym for North Korea's full name.

An official at South Korea's Unification Ministry said the statement was noteworthy given its timing.

"We are paying close attention to Kim Yo Jong's statement, as it comes at a time when US President Donald Trump has recently expressed his willingness to pursue dialogue with North Korea," the official said, according to a transcript obtained by AFP.

The US leader has repeatedly expressed a willingness to resume dialogue with Kim Jong Un, saying last month that he planned to meet him later this year.

Trump met Kim three times during his first term, but their diplomacy ultimately stalled after their 2019 summit in Hanoi failed to produce an agreement on sanctions relief and what Pyongyang would offer in return for denuclearisation.

Pyongyang has expanded its nuclear arsenal since the failed Hanoi summit.