HL Deb 19 November 1991 vol 532 c59WA
Lord Kennet

asked Her Majesty's Government:

What steps they intend to take, as the United Kingdom is a depositary state of the Non-Proliferation Treaty, to ensure that the removal of nuclear weapons from South Korea by the United States will be subject to appropriate international inspection (as was the removal of so-called Intermediate Nuclear Forces from Western and Eastern Europe) so as to secure the full adherence of North Korea to the Non-Proliferation Treaty's inspection provisions.

The Earl of Caithness

None. The matter raised in the first half of this question has nothing to do with the role of a depositary for the Non-Proliferation Treaty as set out in Article IX of the Treaty.

North Korea acceded to the NPT in 1985. Her subsequent failure to sign a safeguards agreement, as she is obliged to do, with the IAEA is a clear breach of the NPT and has been the subject of international criticism. We expect North Korea to abide by her international commitments and take every appropriate opportunity to remind her of our concern.