North Korea’s UN envoy said his country was not bound by the Non-Proliferation Treaty on nuclear weapons and external pressure would not change its status as a nuclear-armed state, official media reported Thursday.
Pyongyang threatened to withdraw from the Non-Proliferation Treaty (NPT) in 1993 and formally did so in 2003.
It has since conducted six nuclear tests — prompting a raft of international sanctions — and is believed to possess dozens of nuclear warheads.
Signatories of the NPT have been holding a review meeting of the landmark pact at the United Nations.
There, “the United States and certain countries following its lead are groundlessly calling into question the current status and exercise of sovereign rights” of North Korea, Pyongyang’s top UN envoy Kim Song said in a statement carried by the official Korean Central News Agency.
“The status of the Democratic People’s Republic of Korea as a nuclear-armed state will not change based on external rhetorical claims or unilateral desires,” he added, using North Korea’s official name.
“To make it clear once again, the Democratic People’s Republic of Korea will not be bound by the Non-Proliferation Treaty under any circumstances whatsoever.”
He continued that the country’s status as a nuclear-armed state has been “enshrined in the constitution, transparently declaring the principles of nuclear weapons use”.
North Korea has insisted that it will not give up its nuclear arsenal, describing its path as “irreversible” and vowing to strengthen its capabilities.
The NPT, which went into force in 1970 and is signed by almost all countries on the planet — with notable exceptions including North Korea, Israel, India and Pakistan — aims to prevent the spread of nuclear weapons, promote complete disarmament and encourage cooperation on civilian nuclear projects.
But the spirit of the treaty has been “eroding”, UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres said in his opening remarks at the review session last week.
“Commitments remain unfulfilled. Trust and credibility are wearing thin. The drivers of proliferation are accelerating,” he said.
The nine nuclear-armed states — Russia, the United States, France, the United Kingdom, China, India, Pakistan, Israel and North Korea — possessed 12,241 nuclear warheads in January 2025, the Stockholm International Peace Research Institute (SIPRI) reported.
The US and Russia hold nearly 90 percent of nuclear weapons globally and have carried out major programmes to modernise them in recent years, according to SIPRI.
Pyongyang has sent ground troops and artillery shells to support Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, and observers say Pyongyang is receiving military, economic and technical assistance from Moscow in return.
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