Overview
- North Korea’s UN envoy, in a statement released Wednesday during the NPT review conference in New York, said the country is not bound by the treaty under any circumstances and called its nuclear status constitutional and irreversible.
- South Korea, which co-hosted a side event with France on Tuesday, pressed for a phased and flexible approach that keeps the long-term goal of complete denuclearization while creating openings for dialogue.
- South Korea’s deputy UN ambassador warned that the 2024 shutdown of a UN expert sanctions panel and closer ties between Pyongyang and Moscow have weakened enforcement, and he pointed to a new multinational monitoring team filling some gaps.
- Participants and outside experts at the forum urged practical risk-reduction steps, including a proposal for North Korea, the United States, China and Russia to ratify the Comprehensive Nuclear-Test-Ban Treaty together to stop nuclear testing.
- The month-long review conference, held every five years to assess the NPT’s core bargain that trades disarmament progress and peaceful nuclear aid for states forgoing bombs, follows failed attempts to reach consensus in 2015 and 2022 and faces strained trust today.