North Korea says it is not bound by any nuclear non-proliferation agreement News about nuclear weapons

Pyongyang has said that its position as a nuclear-armed state ‘will not change based on external claims’.

North Korea’s envoy to the United Nations has announced that Pyongyang will not be bound by any agreement on atomic weapons and that no external pressure will change its status as a nuclear weapons state.

Ambassador Kim Song’s comments – reported by state media on Thursday – came as the United States and other countries criticized North Korea’s nuclear program. UN conference reviewing the Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty (NPT).

Pyongyang withdrew from the NPT in 2003 and conducted six nuclear tests, prompting several UN Security Council sanctions.

It is believed that the country has a large number of nuclear weapons.

“At the 11th NPT Review Conference being held at the UN headquarters, the United States and other countries following their leadership are baselessly questioning their status and independence,” Kim said, according to the Korea Central News Agency.

“The status of the Democratic People’s Republic of Korea as a nuclear-armed state will not change based on foreign claims or ambitions,” he added.

“To make it clear again, the Democratic People’s Republic of Korea will not be bound by the Non-Proliferation Treaty under any circumstances.”

He added that the country’s role as a nuclear weapons state “is written in the constitution, clearly declaring the principle of using nuclear weapons”.

North Korea has insisted it will not give up its nuclear weapons, saying its strategy is “unchangeable” and vowing to strengthen its nuclear arsenal.

It has sent ground troops and artillery shells to support Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, and observers say Pyongyang is also receiving military technology support from Moscow.

The nine nuclear-armed states – Russia, the US, France, the United Kingdom, China, India, Pakistan, Israel and North Korea – had 12,241 nuclear weapons in January 2025, the Stockholm International Peace Research Institute (SIPRI) said.

The US and Russia have about 90 percent of the world’s nuclear weapons and have undertaken major programs to develop them in recent years, according to SIPRI.

The nuclear issue has been at the heart of the US-Israel war on Iran, with US President Donald Trump saying that Tehran – a signatory to the NPT – cannot have a nuclear weapon.

Iran denies seeking an atomic weapon and has been asking Washington to recognize its right to enrich uranium.