Members of NPDI confront North at the UN

Dutch Ministry of Foreign Affairs Political Director Thijs van der Plas speaks at the 10th Nonproliferation Treaty review conference at the UN headquarters in New York on Tuesday. [SCREEN CAPTURE]

Members of the Non-Proliferation and Disarmament Initiative (NPDI), a coalition of a dozen countries including the Netherlands, Germany, Japan and the U.A.E., called for a complete, verifiable and irreversible dismantling of North Korea’s nuclear weapons at the UN nonproliferation conference on Tuesday.

“The NPDI strongly condemns North Korea’s unprecedented series of ballistic missile launches, in violation of relevant UN Security Council resolutions,” said Dutch Ministry of Foreign Affairs Political Director Thijs van der Plas in an address to the 10th NPT review conference at the UN headquarters in New York.

He was speaking on behalf of the NPDI members, a coalition that exists within the Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty (NPT) framework.

“The NPDI strongly urges North Korea to dismantle its weapons of mass destruction and ballistic missile programs in a complete, verifiable and irreversible manner and return to full compliance with its IAEA safeguards agreements and the NPT,” he said.

North Korea was a member of the NPT from 1985 to 2003. The country held its first nuclear test in 2006, followed by five more through September 2017.

The country has ramped up military provocations this year, launching 31 ballistic missiles including an intercontinental ballistic missile in May, and is suspected to be getting ready for its seventh nuclear test.

Other members of the NPT also called on Pyongyang to cease its provocations and return to dialogue.

“Singapore remains gravely concerned by the continued existence and development of the DPRK’s nuclear and ballistic missile programs, including the DPRK’s intercontinental ballistic missile test held on 24 March,” said Syed Noureddin Bin Syed Hassim, deputy permanent representative of Singapore to the UN, referring to North Korea by the acronym of its official name, the Democratic People’s Republic of Korea.

“We urge the DPRK to refrain from further provocations and to take concrete steps towards a complete, verifiable and irreversible denuclearization, and to return to the Non-Proliferation Treaty,” said Maurizio Massari, permanent representative of Italy to the UN.

The Korean representative at the conference, Deputy Foreign Minister for Multilateral and Global Affairs Ham Sang-wook, had also called on Pyongyang to cease provocations and return to the NPT during his statement Monday.

The UN nonproliferation conference, held every five years, may result in a joint statement by members outlining their nonproliferation objectives.

The last conference held in 2015 didn’t produce such a document due to disagreements over the establishment of a zone in the Middle East that would be free of weapons of mass destruction (WMD).

In this year’s conference, members were expected to discuss not only the nuclear programs of North Korea and the WMD-free zone in the Middle East, but also the Russian invasion of Ukraine.

Many speakers at the conference, including van der Plas, expressed concerns about Russia’s aggression against Ukraine and what they called Russia’s “failure to respect the commitments under the Budapest Memorandum on security assurances” to Ukraine when it gave up its nuclear weapons.

Russia, represented by Alexander Trofimov, head of the Russian Foreign Ministry's department for nonproliferation and arms control, dismissed the criticism.

“We would also like to strongly reject the utterly unfounded, detached from reality and unacceptable speculations that Russia allegedly threatens to use nuclear weapons, particularly in Ukraine,” said Trofimov at the 10th NPT Review Conference. “We do not rule out the possibility that this is done on purpose in order to fuel anti-Russian hysteria.”

China, also a member of the NPT, criticized the United States several times during its statement on Tuesday.

“The nuclear-powered submarine cooperation among the United States, the United Kingdom and Australia poses severe nuclear proliferation risks, in contravention of the object and purpose of the NPT,” said Fu Cong, head of the Chinese delegation to the UN.

“The United States should withdraw all its nuclear weapons from Europe and refrain from deploying nuclear weapons in any other region,” he said, adding that “any attempt to replicate the NATO’s nuclear sharing model in the Asia-Pacific region would undermine regional strategic stability.”

U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken had assured the press on Monday the submarine agreement would “adhere to the highest safety and nonproliferation standards under the NPT.”

BY ESTHER CHUNG [chung.juhee@joongang.co.kr]