North Korea

Nuclear-armed state

Possesses 50 nuclear weapons

Has not yet joined the TPNW

SIGNED

RATIFIED

IN FORCE

Status

North Korea has not yet signed or ratified the Treaty on the Prohibition of Nuclear Weapons (TPNW).

National position

North Korea has voted against an annual UN General Assembly resolution in since 2020 that welcomes the adoption of the TPNW and calls upon all states to sign, ratify, or accede to it “at the earliest possible date”. From 2018 to 2019, it abstained from voting on the same resolution.

A message projected onto the UN headquarters in New York in 2022 calls on North Korea to join the TPNW. Photo: ICAN

Nuclear-weapon programme

North Korea possesses approximately 50 nuclear weapons, which it may be able to launch from missiles. It conducted six nuclear tests between 2006 and 2017, and is the only state to have conducted such tests in the 21st century.

In 2023, the North Korean legislature voted to enshrine the country’s pursuit of nuclear weapons into its constitution. “The [North Korean] nuclear force-building policy has been made permanent as the basic law of the state, which no one is allowed to flout with anything,” said Kim Jong Un, North Korea’s supreme leader.

In 2024, North Korea spent an estimated US$630 million to build and maintain its nuclear forces.

TPNW negotiations

North Korea did not participate in the negotiation of the TPNW at the United Nations in New York in 2017 and thus did not vote on its adoption.

In 2016, North Korea voted in the first committee of the UN General Assembly in favour of a draft resolution that established the formal mandate for states to commence negotiations on “a legally binding instrument to prohibit nuclear weapons, leading towards their total elimination”.

However, it did not participate in the vote on the same resolution when it was adopted at a plenary meeting of the UN General Assembly later that year.

Further information

Nuclear Weapons Ban Monitor

North Korea

Nuclear-armed state

Possesses 50 nuclear weapons

Has not yet joined the TPNW

Status

National position

Nuclear-weapon programme

TPNW negotiations

Further information

Local Partner Organizations

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