North Korea’s UN envoy says the country is not bound by the nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty (NPT) and that “external pressure” will not change its status as a nuclear-armed state. According to official North Korean media reports, the envoy delivers the position during the ongoing NPT Review Conference at UN headquarters in New York, where signatories are discussing the treaty’s implementation and challenges.
The articles note that North Korea first withdrew from the NPT in 1993 and later formally withdrew in 2003. Since then, it has carried out six nuclear tests, which have led to multiple United Nations resolutions and international sanctions. North Korea is widely assessed to possess dozens of nuclear warheads.
Both reports frame the statement as a reiteration of Pyongyang’s longstanding stance on nuclear weapons and treaty obligations, setting it against the backdrop of current international efforts to review and strengthen the NPT.
