NEW YORK CITY — North Korea's envoy to the United Nations, Kim Song, declared at the 11th Non-Proliferation Treaty Review Conference at UN headquarters in New York that the country will not be bound by any treaty on atomic weapons, according to state media. He said no external pressure would change North Korea's status as a nuclear-armed state.

Kim said that the United States and certain countries were groundlessly calling into question North Korea's status and exercise of sovereign rights at the conference, according to state media. He added that the country's status as a nuclear-armed state has been enshrined in the constitution, transparently declaring the principles of nuclear weapons use, according to state media.

"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 said.

North Korea withdrew from the Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty in 2003. Since then, it has conducted six nuclear tests, and the UN Security Council has imposed multiple sanctions in response. North Korea is believed to hold dozens of nuclear warheads and has described its nuclear programme as irreversible, pledging to strengthen its capabilities.

According to the Stockholm International Peace Research Institute, Russia, the United States, France, the United Kingdom, China, India, Pakistan, Israel and North Korea possessed 12,241 nuclear warheads in January 2025. The U.S. and Russia hold nearly 90 percent of nuclear weapons globally and have carried out major programmes to modernise their arsenals in recent years, the institute said.