The primary multilateral regime to promote nuclear disarmament and to prevent proliferation is the Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty, NPT, which came into force in 1970. The NPT does not prohibit the possession of nuclear weapons by those states which had manufactured and exploded such weapons prior to January 1967 – the US, UK, France, Russian Federation and China. However, Article VI of the NPT requires each state party, inter alia, to pursue negotiations in good faith on nuclear disarmament. Non-nuclear weapon states parties have agreed not to acquire or develop nuclear weapons, non-proliferation compliance being monitored via a comprehensive safeguards agreement negotiated by each signatory with the International Atomic Energy Agency, IAEA.
India, Pakistan and Israel are not state parties to the NPT and accordingly are not bound by its provisions nor have they entered into comprehensive safeguards agreements with the IAEA. As a consequence, IAEA inspections cannot take place in these countries. In relation to India and Pakistan, Ireland strongly supports United Nations Security Council Resolution 1172 passed in June 1998 which, inter alia, calls on India and Pakistan to become parties to the NPT and the Comprehensive Test Ban Treaty, CTBT, and to immediately stop their nuclear weapons development programmes, including the development of ballistic missiles capable of nuclear weapons delivery.
On 10 January 2003, the Democratic People's Republic of Korea, DPRK, announced its "immediate withdrawal" from the NPT after it had directed IAEA inspectors to leave the nuclear site they were monitoring at Yongbyon. Ireland and its EU partners remains seriously concerned at the DRPK's nuclear programme and its failure to comply with its IAEA safeguards agreement. The EU has urged the DPRK to visibly, verifiably and irreversibly dismantle its nuclear programme, as a fundamental step to facilitate a comprehensive and peaceful solution.