North Korea says nuclear program 'absolutely nonnegotiable'

Key points

• Kim Yo Jong, the sister of North Korean leader Kim Jong Un, has reaffirmed the country's nuclear ambitions ahead of a visit by Chinese President Xi Jinping.
• A day before a high-profile visit by Chinese President Xi Jinping, North Korea said it will not back down from developing nuclear weapons.
• "Our status as a nuclear power is absolutely nonnegotiable,"Kim Yo Jong, the sister of North Korean leader Kim Jong Un, said in comments published by the official newspaper of record, Rodong Sinmun, on Sunday.
• She is considered a key communications and foreign policy figure in North Korea.
• "The policy of continuously strengthening self-defensive nuclear war deterrence, as declared by the head of ​state, is an irreversible and final conclusion that must be executed unconditionally," she added.