NEW YORK — North Korea has said it is not bound to any treaty on nuclear weapons, the state-run Korean Central News Agency (KCNA) reported on Thursday. Kim Song, North Korea’s permanent representative to the United Nations, said in a statement that the US and several other countries are “tarnishing the atmosphere” at the ongoing UN conference reviewing the Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty (NPT) by raising concerns about North Korea’s nuclear weapons. His statement came as the United States and other countries criticized North Korea’s nuclear program at the conference in UN headquarters. 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. “At 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,” Kim said, according to KCNA. “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. “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 long insisted that it will not give up its nuclear arsenal, describing its path as “irreversible” and pledging to strengthen its capabilities. It has sent ground troops and artillery shells to support Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, and observers say Pyongyang is receiving military technology assistance from Moscow in return. The nine nuclear-armed states – Russia, the US, 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. The nuclear issue has been at the heart of the US and Israel’s war on Iran, with US President Donald Trump saying that Tehran – a signatory to the NPT – can never have a nuclear weapon. Iran denies seeking an atomic weapon and has long demanded Washington acknowledge its right to enrich uranium.
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