North Korea not bound by NPT under any circumstances: UN envoy

North Korea is not bound under any circumstances by the Treaty on the Non-Proliferation of Nuclear Weapons (NPT), its representative to the United Nations said in a statement released on Thursday, calling any attempt to force Pyongyang to fulfill treaty obligations a “wanton violation” of international law.

In the statement, dated Thursday and carried by the North's official Korean Central News Agency, Kim Song, Pyongyang's permanent representative to the UN, claimed his country's nuclear program reflects its “obligations under the law on nuclear forces policy and the constitution, which enshrined the country's legal status as a nuclear-armed state.”

“I denounce and reject in the strongest tone the brigandish and shameless acts of the specific countries, including the [United States], which are taking issue with the DPRK's realistic and just access to nuclear weapons through the legal route and exercise of its inherent defensive rights as a sovereign state,” he added. DPRK stands for the Democratic People's Republic of Korea, the North's official name.

The statement came as the 11th Review Conference of the NPT is currently underway at UN headquarters. Signatory states of the treaty convene a review conference every five years to evaluate how well the treaty, adopted in 1968, is being upheld.

North Korea withdrew from the treaty in 1993.

The North's latest nuclear rhetoric also came amid expectations that North Korea could be on the agenda at the planned summit between U.S. President Donald Trump and Chinese President Xi Jinping in Beijing next week.

The North Korean diplomat argued that forcing the North to fulfill obligations under the treaty is a “wanton violation of the spirit of the treaty and a total disregard of the purpose and principle of international law.”

“The position of the DPRK as a nuclear weapons state does not change in accordance with rhetorical assertion or unilateral desire of outsiders,” he said. “Clarifying once again, the DPRK is not bound by the NPT in any case.” 

Yonhap