AFP, Seoul

North Korea’s nuclear weapons programme is “the line of no retreat”, the powerful sister of leader Kim Jong Un said in a statement carried by state media yesterday ahead of a visit by Chinese President Xi Jinping.

Pyongyang has long insisted on its right to nuclear weapon and ballistic missile programmes, although they are forbidden under the terms of UN Security Council sanctions. It enshrined its nuclear status in its constitution in 2023.

“The DPRK’s status as a nuclear weapons state is the line of no retreat,” Kim’s sister Kim Yo Jong said in the English version of a statement published by North Korea’s official Korean Central News Agency.

“We will never tolerate any threat or compromise related to our sovereignty and security,” she said.

She also cited reported US weapons sales to South Korea, describing them as the “ceaseless arms buildup of the hostile countries”, in justifying Pyongyang’s efforts to strengthen its arsenal.

Kim Yo Jong is a key player in the North’s communications and foreign policy and her statement came on the eve of Xi’s visit, which, according to state media, is scheduled to take place today and tomorrow.

Beijing is a vital source of political and economic support to North Korea, one of the most diplomatically isolated countries in the world and which is under heavy international sanctions.

Xi’s visit to Pyongyang will be his first in seven years, and comes after he hosted back-to-back summits with US President Donald Trump and Russia’s Vladimir Putin last month.