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

Seoul, May 7 North Korea is not bound under any circumstances by the Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty (NPT), its representative to the United Nations said in a statement released Thursday, calling any attempt to force Pyongyang to fulfill treaty obligations a "wanton violation" of international law.

In the statement, dated May 6 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 US, 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 Treaty on the Non-Proliferation of Nuclear Weapons is currently under way 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 announced its withdrawal from the treaty in 1993 and formally withdrew in 2003, Yonhap news agency reported.

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

The North Korean diplomat argued 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."

Kim further accused Washington of "neglecting" its nuclear disarmament commitments by providing other countries with advanced military technology, such as "'extended deterrence' and transfer of nuclear submarine technology to non-nuclear states."

While Pyongyang's stance on the NPT "has largely remained unchanged," South Korea's unification ministry noted a marked shift in how North Korea framed its nuclear program, anchoring its legitimacy within a newly revised constitution.

"This time, it underscores its status as a nuclear-armed state based on its constitution and laws," a ministry official told reporters.

North Korea's revised constitution in March stipulated the president of the state affairs commission has the right to command the country's nuclear forces, codifying leader Kim Jong-un's authority to command the use of nuclear weapons for the first time.

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