Member states of the Treaty on the Nonproliferation of Nuclear Weapons (NPT) are in the process of adopting a resolution that calls on North Korea to promptly “abandon” its nuclear weapons development programme in an “irreversible manner.”
According to reports, a draft of a final statement on the 10th NPT review conference, which began in New York on August 1 and will close tomorrow, has been circulating among member countries this week. North Korea was among the key issues that were discussed in the meeting’s 34-page declaration.
“The conference further calls on the DPRK to take concrete measures as soon as possible to abandon all its nuclear weapons, ballistic missiles and related programs in a complete, verifiable and irreversible manner,” the English-language draft of the declaration read. It also reportedly calls on Pyongyang to abide by the safeguards recommended by the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) on all of its nuclear activities, as well as related UN Security Council resolutions.
📢Breaking news: 144 states are delivering now at the #NPTRevCon a joint statement on the humanitarian and environmental consequences of nuclear weapons, highlighting the urgency to eliminate these weapons of mass destruction and the need to involve civil society in this process. pic.twitter.com/zS5hNt9zMU
— ICAN (@nuclearban) August 22, 2022
NPT members also expressed their “unwavering support for the complete denuclearisation of the Korean Peninsula” and emphasised that Pyongyang “must not conduct any further nuclear tests.” South Korea is reported to have played a major role in drafting the content related to the North.
Although the content of the declaration could be subject to change before its final publication, it is expected to be adopted with the unanimous consent of the 191 countries that are party to the conference. The NPT has near-universal membership—only India, Israel, North Korea, South Sudan, and Pakistan are not party to the treaty. North Korea initially joined the treaty in 1985 but withdrew in 2003.
To this end, members have urged North Korea to rejoin the NPT. “Recalling that the DPRK cannot have the status of a nuclear-weapon state pursuant to the NPT, the Conference calls on it to return without delay to the NPT and to the application of IAEA safeguards on all of its nuclear activities,” the draft said.
2/ The states party have till the end of this week to adopt an outcome document, this might or might not happen like the case of the 2015 #NPTRevCon when the Conference was not able to reach agreement on the substantive part of the draft Final Document.#NPT2022 #10RevCon
— ICAN (@nuclearban) August 23, 2022
It concluded by encouraging the international community to resolve the North Korean nuclear issue through negotiations and diplomacy. “The Conference stresses that all parties concerned should exercise restraint, refrain from escalatory steps, adhere to the general direction of political settlement and resolve their respective concerns through meaningful dialogue in order to promote peace and the denuclearisation of the Korean Peninsula,” the draft declaration reads.
The news comes against the backdrop of North Korea testing two cruise missiles last Wednesday. Cruise missiles are not part of the United Nations’ test bans on the country. However, both the United States and South Korea have warned that the Kim Jong-un administration has already completed preparations to carry out a seventh nuclear test, the country’s first since 2017. North Korea has already launched over 30 missiles this year, including six Intercontinental Ballistic Missiles (ICBMs).
Costa Rica delivered a joint statement on behalf of 145 Member States expressing concern about the catastrophic humanitarian consequences of nuclear weapons.
— CostaRicaONU (@CostaRicaONU) August 22, 2022
“We owe it to future generations to work together to rid our world of the threat posed by nuclear weapons.” #NPTRevCon pic.twitter.com/yZUHSsMmcr
Earlier this month, North Korea also rejected South Korea’s “ridiculous” offer of a “largescale” economic package if it agreed to suspend its nuclear programme, asking South Korean President Yoon Suk-yeol to “shut his mouth”. Kim Yo-jong, the sister of Supreme Leader Kim Jong-un, asked Yoon to not “have an absurd dream.”
The leader further noted that all of the South’s previous leaders, along with “their master,” the United States, had “failed to make the North abandon nukes.” Kim called Pyongyang’s nuclear programme “an honour” and said it could “not be bartered.” “To think that the plan to barter economic cooperation for our honour, nukes, is the great dream, hope and plan of Yoon, we came to realise that he is really simple and still childish. No one barters its destiny for corn cake,” she asserted.
Given these comments from Pyongyang, it seems unlikely that the imminent NPT declaration will inspire a change in North Korea’s approach.