North Korea says it is not bound by any treaty on nuclear non-proliferation
Key takeaways
- Pyongyang says its status as nuclear-armed state ‘will not change based on external rhetorical claims’.
- Pyongyang withdrew from the NPT in 2003 and has since conducted six nuclear tests, promoting multiple UN Security Council sanctions.
- The country is believed to hold dozens of nuclear warheads.
Why this matters: an international story with cross-border implications worth tracking.
Pyongyang says its status as nuclear-armed state ‘will not change based on external rhetorical claims’.
xwhatsapp-strokecopylinkgoogle Add Al Jazeera on Googleinfo North Korean leader Kim Jong Un visits the country's nuclear material production base and nuclear weapons institute at an undisclosed location in North Korea in January 2025 [File: KCNA via Reuters]By AFP and Reuters Published On 7 May 20267 May 2026North Korea’s envoy to the United Nations has declared that Pyongyang will not be bound by any treaty on atomic weapons and that no external pressure will change its status as a nuclear-armed state.
Ambassador Kim Song’s statement – carried by state media on Thursday – came as the United States and other countries criticised North Korea’s nuclear programme at the ongoing UN conference reviewing the Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty (NPT).