{"id":9936,"date":"2026-05-09T07:15:08","date_gmt":"2026-05-09T07:15:08","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/korea\/9936\/"},"modified":"2026-05-09T07:15:08","modified_gmt":"2026-05-09T07:15:08","slug":"north-korea-says-not-bound-by-nuclear-non-proliferation-treaty-5","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/korea\/9936\/","title":{"rendered":"North Korea says not bound by nuclear non-proliferation treaty"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><img fetchpriority=\"high\" alt=\"North Korea nuclear\" loading=\"eager\" width=\"912\" height=\"608\" decoding=\"async\" data-nimg=\"1\" class=\"html-img h-auto w-full\" style=\"color:transparent\"   src=\"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/korea\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/05\/384828b9-north-korea-nuclear-1.jpg\"\/>North Korea withdrew from the Non-Proliferation Treaty in 1993, has carried out six nuclear tests, and is believed to possess dozens of warheads. (EPA Images pic)<br \/>\nSEOUL: North Korea\u2019s 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.<\/p>\n<p class=\"py-1.5 mb-4 text-lg\">Pyongyang first withdrew from the Non-Proliferation Treaty in 1993 and has since conducted six nuclear tests, subjecting it to multiple United Nations resolutions, and is believed to possess dozens of nuclear warheads.<\/p>\n<p class=\"py-1.5 mb-4 text-lg\">\u201cAt the 11th NPT Review Conference currently under way at UN headquarters, the United States and certain countries following its lead are groundlessly calling into question the current status and exercise of sovereign rights\u201d of North Korea, Pyongyang\u2019s top UN envoy Kim Song said in a statement carried by the official Korean Central News Agency.<\/p>\n<p class=\"py-1.5 mb-4 text-lg\">\u201cThe status of the Democratic People\u2019s Republic of Korea as a nuclear-armed state will not change based on external rhetorical claims or unilateral desires,\u201d he added.<\/p>\n<p class=\"py-1.5 mb-4 text-lg\">\u201cTo make it clear once again, the Democratic People\u2019s Republic of Korea will not be bound by the Non-Proliferation Treaty under any circumstances whatsoever.\u201d<\/p>\n<p class=\"py-1.5 mb-4 text-lg\">He continued that the country\u2019s status as a nuclear-armed state has been \u201censhrined in the constitution, transparently declaring the principles of nuclear weapons use\u201d.<\/p>\n<p class=\"py-1.5 mb-4 text-lg\">North Korea has consistently insisted that it will not give up its nuclear arsenal, describing its path as \u201cirreversible\u201d and vowing to strengthen its capabilities.<\/p>\n<p class=\"py-1.5 mb-4 text-lg\">Pyongyang has sent ground troops and artillery shells to support Russia\u2019s invasion of Ukraine, and observers say Pyongyang is receiving military technology assistance from Moscow in return.<\/p>\n<p class=\"py-1.5 mb-4 text-lg\">The nine nuclear-armed states \u2013 Russia, the United States, France, the United Kingdom, China, India, Pakistan, Israel and North Korea \u2013 possessed 12,241 nuclear warheads in January 2025, the Stockholm International Peace Research Institute reported.<\/p>\n<p class=\"py-1.5 mb-4 text-lg\">The US and Russia hold nearly 90% of nuclear weapons globally and have carried out major programs to modernise them in recent years, according to SIPRI.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"North Korea withdrew from the Non-Proliferation Treaty in 1993, has carried out six nuclear tests, and is believed&hellip;\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":9937,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[4],"tags":[517,7541,34,142,129,7542],"class_list":{"0":"post-9936","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-pyongyang","8":"tag-diplomacy","9":"tag-non-proliferation","10":"tag-north-korea","11":"tag-nuclear","12":"tag-pyongyang","13":"tag-treaty"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/korea\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/9936","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/korea\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/korea\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/korea\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/korea\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=9936"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/korea\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/9936\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/korea\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/9937"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/korea\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=9936"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/korea\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=9936"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/korea\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=9936"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}